Rectal cancer: The most advanced treatments for rectal cancer

This is the most reliable test for finding cancerous polyps or tissue. It involves looking at your rectum and colon with a video camera attached to a long, flexible tube. After you undergo a bowel cleansing procedure, a doctor passes the tube through your rectum and colon. 

This test uses a CT scan to view your rectum and colon after a bowel cleansing procedure.

These tests involve you providing a stool sample. Doctors examine the sample for hidden blood or altered DNA. These could be signs of polyps or cancer.

The test involves passing a thin, lighted tube through your rectum. Doctors use it to look for polyps in the portion of your colon closest to your rectum and your rectum itself. The rectum is the lowest portion of your colon where your body stores stool. Like a colonoscopy, this test requires bowel cleansing beforehand.

During this procedure, surgeons remove cancer tissue and a small amount of healthy tissue lining the rectum.

During this procedure, surgeons remove cancerous polyps. 

In cases where rectal cancers are located close to the anus, both the rectum and anus must be removed. After an abdominoperineal resection, your surgeon creates an opening in your abdomen (stoma) so waste can leave your body. 

Rectal cancers may require removal of all or part of the rectum. A proctectomy is also called a segmental resection. Proctectomy can be done through traditional open surgery or a minimally invasive laparoscopic approach. During a laparoscopic procedure, a surgeon makes small incisions in your abdomen. These incisions are used to insert a tiny camera and special surgical instruments.

Some early-stage rectal cancers can be removed using a transanal approach. During this procedure, no incisions are made in the abdomen. Instead, surgeons use the anal canal to remove rectal cancers or a portion of the rectum. 

In cases where the entire rectum is removed, surgeons might be able to connect the remaining colon directly to the anus. This helps to preserve bowel function.

Medication treatments for rectal cancer include chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Chemotherapy works by killing cancer cells. Targeted therapy slows cancer cell growth. Immunotherapy makes your immune system attack cancer cells.  

Radiation therapy uses radiation to kill cancer cells.