Can late stage rectal cancer be cured?

Late-stage rectal cancer usually cannot be cured, and relevant treatments can only alleviate individual symptoms and prolong life.

Generally speaking, patients with advanced rectal cancer are difficult to cure. This is because advanced rectal cancer is usually accompanied by metastasis of cancer cells, such as pelvic metastasis, liver metastasis, lung metastasis, etc., and the tumor burden is large. At this time, simple surgical resection can no longer completely eliminate cancer cells, so it is difficult to achieve a cure. Although advanced rectal cancer is difficult to cure, patients can still improve their survival rate and quality of life through a variety of treatments. These methods include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted drug therapy, palliative resection, anti-vascular therapy, etc.

The treatment effect of advanced rectal cancer varies from person to person and is affected by many factors, such as the patient's age, basic health condition, tumor classification, stage, gene mutation, etc. The treatment plan needs to be formulated according to the patient's specific situation and individualized treatment. During the treatment process, close monitoring of changes in the condition and timely adjustment of the treatment plan will help improve the treatment effect.