The healthcare professionals looking after you meet regularly as a team, called a multidisciplinary team (MDT). They will look at your test results and your general health and talk about which treatments may be suitable for you.

You will have an appointment with a member of the team to talk about your test results and the benefits and risks of the treatment options. 

You may be offered more than one of these treatments. You may have chemotherapy and radiotherapy together (chemoradiation) if there is a high risk of the cancer coming back.

Surgery is the most common treatment for bowel cancer. You may have surgery together with radiotherapy or chemotherapy to make the cancer easier to remove or if there is a risk of the cancer coming back.

Your healthcare team will help you decide on the best treatment for you. They may not recommend surgery if you are too unfit for the operation or if you have advanced cancer that can’t be removed by surgery.

There are also treatments for bowel cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. To learn more, click here.