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Surgery may not be an emergent need for patients with colorectal cancer, according to a new study.

A recent study has shown that patients with advanced colorectal cancer that has metastasized to other organs, doesn’t require surgery to remove the colon tumor.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center had researchers do a study and present their information at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting today.
The study consisted of 233 patients that have metastatic colorectal cancer and the cases were treated at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center between 2000 and 2006. The outcome of the analysis showed that 217 patients of the 233 treated, did not have any complications requiring them to have a removal of the primary tumor. Sixteen patients from the study were required to have surgery to remove their tumor for symptom management.

The previous routine in approaching the treating of the disease was for the patient to have colon surgery immediately and then chemotherapy treatments were taken about 3 weeks later. The reasoning of having the removal of the colon tumor was in hopes of preventing any further symptoms and complications.

With the new development of better treatments in chemotherapy, doctors are seeing a different aspect on the approach.

Each cancer patient has their own case of how to handle the disease, but this research may have found a better way of survival for colorectal cancer sufferers.