Bowel (colorectal) cancer
Bowel cancer can start in the large bowel (colon cancer) or back passage (rectal cancer). It is also called colorectal cancer..
Your treatment depends on whether you have colon or rectal cancer.
Your treatment also depends on a number of factors including how far the cancer has grown, whether it has spread anywhere else in your body and your general health. A team of doctors and other professionals discuss the best treatment and care for you.
This section is about treatment for bowel cancer that hasn't spread to another part of your body.
We have separate information about treatment for cancer that began in the bowel and has spread to another part of the body. This is metastatic or advanced bowel cancer.
Go to our information about metastatic bowel cancer
There are things you can do to help you feel more in control of your health when preparing for treatment. This is called prehabilitation or prehab.
This section is about treatment for large bowel (colon) cancer that hasn't spread to another part of the body. The main treatments are surgery and chemotherapy.
This section is about treatment for cancer that starts in the back passage (rectal cancer). The main treatments are chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy.
Last reviewed: 10 Jan 2025
Next review due: 10 Jan 2028
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