What changes in body can patient expect during treatment of colorectal cancer

18 Jan, 2022

During chemotherapy

Peripheral neuropathy presenting as numbness and pain in hands and foot that may affect writing, holding objects, buttoning shirts, picking up coins, and walking. Increased stool frequency, nausea, poor oral intake, oral ulcers, easy fatiguability occurs commonly and is usually mild and self-limiting. Your medical oncologist will give you some medicines to prevent and/or manage these issues. In patients getting oral chemotherapy, there will be transient hyperpigmentation on hands and feet which reverses after cessation of chemotherapy.

After surgery and radiotherapy

Bone damage and risk of fractures may be increased. Also risk of bowel dysfunction leading to increased frequency (diarrhoea), incontinence, inability to defer defecation, inability to differentiate between stool and gas may happen. These generally resolve after a few years. Some patients face urogenital complaints like urinary incontinence and sexual dysfunction. Quality of life can also be affected because of fatigue, sleep difficulty, fear of recurrence, anxiety and depression.