Laser treatment might cure a few cases of colorectal and anal cancer, though surgery along with radiation therapy is considered the primary treatment, with chemotherapy for certain stages. So the goal of laser therapy once again is usually palliation.
Colorectal Cancer If the purpose of laser treatment is to reduce or stop bleeding or to reduce the bulk of a tumor , one or two treatments will usually be enough.
When the obstruction is large, it may be hard to get the endoscope into the tumor.
It may be necessary to pass a guidewire through the tumor mass and use a smaller scope. An alternative is to use a guidewire to insert a balloon to dilate the constricted area, which will also allow a small scope to be passed to accomplish laser treatment.
• The most successful treatments occur when the tumor is growing inward, extending into the bowel lumen
rather than outward toward the layer of the colon or rectum beneath the inner surface (submucosa).
• Short or smaller tumors and straight rather than curved or angulated areas of the colon are more successfully
treated.
• The treatment is not curative and will require follow-up treatment to keep the lumen open every four, eight or
twelve weeks, depending on how fast the tumor is growing.
