Stage Three Means Cancer Has Spread Outside the Colon Wall

Stage three colon cancer is when the cancer has spread from the colon to the lymph nodes. In this case, the cancer has spread outside of the colon wall, whereas stage one and two colon cancers are contained within the colon wall. However, the cancer has not spread through to distant organs as in stage four colon cancer.

The standard treatment of stage three colon cancer is surgery, followed by adjuvant (after surgery) chemotherapy. The goal of chemotherapy after surgery is to kill any cancer cells that have spread outside the colon that were not removed with surgery.

Adjuvant chemotherapy is started after you have recovered from surgery, most commonly within six to eight weeks after surgery. One of the most common chemotherapy regimens in the adjuvant setting is FOLFOX (fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and leucovorin), but other chemotherapeutic regimens may be appropriate. Adjuvant chemotherapy in stage three colon cancer has been shown to reduce the risk of recurrence and improve overall survival.

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