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Colorectal cancer

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Colorectal cancer is cancer that starts in the colon or the rectum, the two parts of the large intestine (bowel).

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What is colorectal cancer?

The colon is the first and longest part of the large intestine, and the rectum is its last section. Cancer that starts in the colon is called colon cancer; cancer that starts in the rectum is called rectal cancer. The risk is higher with older age, a personal or family history of the disease, certain polyps, inherited conditions such as Lynch syndrome, long-lasting ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, heavy drinking, smoking and obesity.

What are the signs?

Early colorectal cancer often has no symptoms. Possible signs include:

  • blood in the stool;
  • changes in bowel habits that last more than a few days, such as diarrhoea, constipation or narrower stools;
  • wind, bloating or cramps;
  • tiredness, and weight loss without a clear reason.

Screening tests, such as stool tests and colonoscopy, can find cancer before symptoms start, when it is often easier to treat.

How is it treated today?

Surgery is the most common treatment for colon cancer at every stage. Depending on the stage and type, treatment may also include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted drugs and immunotherapy. Tests on the tumour help doctors choose targeted drugs. When the cancer has spread, for example to the liver, doctors may also remove or destroy those areas.

What affects the outlook?

The chance of recovery depends on several things: how far the cancer has spread (the stage), whether surgery can remove all of the tumour, whether the bowel is blocked, certain gene changes, the person's general health, and whether the cancer is new or has come back. Your doctor can explain what this means for you.

Machine summary of published research · sources and dates below · 2026-11-06

Written from: MedlinePlus: Colorectal Cancer (2024-03-05) · NCI PDQ: Colon Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version (2025-05-16) · read on 2026-11-06

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Cure
Treatable, not yet curableSource: NICE
Standard treatment
Surgery, often with chemotherapy or radiotherapySource: NICE

Get screened

For family members and people at higher risk: free checks can find some cancers early, before there are symptoms.

Free bowel screening in Vienna

For people aged 45–75 who live in Vienna – letters are being sent out until about spring 2027.

Order a home stool test (FIT) or choose a colonoscopy; call 1450 if you need help.

City of Vienna: bowel screening

Outside Vienna: ask your GP about a stool test or colonoscopy at your health check (Vorsorgeuntersuchung).

If several people in your family had cancer, ask your GP whether genetic counselling makes sense for you.

What do you need help with?

Where treatment stands for Colorectal cancer

Four steps, from proven to unproven.

  1. Approved in Austria

    Usual treatment: Surgery, often with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. NICE

    We do not have the list of medicines approved in Austria yet. Your doctor knows what is available here.

  2. Being tested in people

    20 open trials in Austria, 1534 worldwide. See the trials

    • 1 Phase 1
    • 4 Phase 2
    • 6 Phase 3
    • 9 Other studies

    Phase 1 – first tests in people, mainly for safety · Phase 2 – does it help? · Phase 3 – compared with the usual treatment.

    Trials taking new patients now. Each trial counts once; one in two phases counts as the higher one.

    • "FOLFIRI" cures (Phase 3)
    • 3D conformal EBRT (Phase 3)
    • 5 FU bolus (Phase 3)
    • 5 FU continuous (Phase 3)

  3. Only in the lab or in animals

    Of the 20 newest articles, 1 was in animals and 0 in the lab. See them

  4. No proof it works

    Animal worm medicines (ivermectin, fenbendazole) for cancer: not approved, and not enough research in people to know if they help. American Cancer Society: What to Know About Ivermectin (21 May 2026) · American Cancer Society: What to Know About Fenbendazole (21 Oct 2025)

    Check a post or a product · Don't pay for this

Latest research

The five newest articles. The label comes from the PubMed index: whether it was tested in people, in animals or only in the lab.

Not labelled yet: PubMed has not indexed the article yet, so we do not guess.

All articles further down this page

Support near you

Patient groups and help in Austria.

All supportOrganisations that can help, further down this page

Cure status

Closest to patients

  1. Non Inferiority Study of Preoperative Chemotherapy Without Pelvic Irradiation for Rectal CancerPhase 3 trial: RadiochemotherapyCentre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux · Pessac, France + 40 more hospitalsPhase 3Results expected 2026
  2. Efficacy and Safety of Tunlametinib Plus Vemurafenib in Patients With BRAF V600E-mutant Metastatic Colorectal CancerPhase 3 trial: Tunlametinib plus Vemurafenib, Doublets Chemotherapy ± Bevacizumab or Doublets…Shanghai Kechow Pharma, Inc. (sponsor) · 1 hospital in ChinaPhase 3Results expected 2026
  3. Protective Role of Alpha-Lipoic Acid in Chemotherapy-Induced MucositisPhase 2/3 trial: alpha lipoic acid 600 mg twice dailyNasser Institute for Research and Treatment. · Cairo, EgyptPhase 2/3Results expected 2026

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Who are you looking for?

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If you are looking for a relative

Here you will find questions you can ask, help with difficult talks, organisations for carers and your relative's rights.

Questions for your relative's doctor

How do I talk to them about this?

You do not need the right words. Ask what your relative wants to know, and let them set the pace. These pages can help.

Support for you as a carer

Looking after someone is work too. These organisations help carers, and the list further down this page shows helplines by country.

Organisations on this page

Power of attorney and patient rights, by country

A doctor can share information and a relative can act only with the patient's consent or a legal authority. It is easier to arrange this early.

If you are looking for your child

Children are often treated differently from adults, in specialist centres. Here is where to start.

Childhood cancer centres and parents' organisations

These European networks connect paediatric cancer centres and families.

Before you pay

Parents often receive offers of paid treatment. Please go through this list before you pay for anything.

Open the before-you-pay list

For patient organisations

You can share or print these pages for your members. They are free and need no account.

Apply for experimental treatment or a research study

The trial team decides who can take part; your doctor can help you ask.

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See all 2,191 studies

Latest news

Results, new trials and publications, newest first. Every item links to its source.

Results and new studies, newest first, in plain words.

Plain-language summary pending. Original title shown.

New and changed trials of the last 30 days, without an account and without tracking.

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See all 19,480 news items

Tools for your next step

Questions for your doctor

Pick up to 5 questions for your situation, then print them or take them on your phone.

Choose questions

Used an AI to ask about this?

Five questions that help you check the answer.

See the five questions
If the treatment is not working

If the treatment has stopped working, or you were told there are no more options, here is what you can ask and where you can look next.

Do not stop or put off treatment without talking to your doctor.

Questions for this situation

Trials for people who have already been treated

Many trials look specifically for people who have already had treatment. Registries mark these with words like "previously treated", "refractory" or "relapsed". The trial team decides who can take part.

What a phase 1 trial is for

A phase 1 trial mainly tests whether a new medicine is safe and which dose can be given. It is not built to show that the medicine works.

In cancer, older figures show that fewer than 1 in 20 people in a phase 1 trial respond. Many people expect far more, so ask openly: what can I expect, and what will it mean for my daily life?

Compassionate use

Some medicines not yet approved can be given outside a trial when there is no other option. This does not exist for every medicine or in every country. Your doctor makes the request, and the authority or the manufacturer decides.

A second opinion

Asking for a second opinion is normal and does not mean you distrust your doctor. Take your results and a list of your treatments with you. For rare diseases, your doctor can also ask a European Reference Network.

Palliative care

This is care for symptoms and quality of life, and you can have it alongside cancer treatment. It does not mean anyone has given up on you. In a randomised trial in advanced lung cancer, palliative care from early on improved quality of life.

Before you pay

In this situation many people receive offers of paid treatment. Go through this list before you pay for anything.

Open the before-you-pay list

If this feels too heavy right now

You can talk to someone. In Hungary and in the UK, 116 123 is a free line for emotional support, day and night. The list on this page shows helplines in other countries.

Not medical advice. Talk to your care team before you change anything in your treatment.

Organisations that can help

Helplines, patient groups and support services for you and your family.

Select your country to see the organisations there, starting with the ones closest to you.

Umbrella organisations (they connect national groups)

General support

For anyone who is ill, whatever the disease: patients' rights and legal aid, crisis lines, hospice and palliative care, care in another EU country, and patient organisations' umbrella bodies.

International

Frontlight is not affiliated with these organisations; we list them because they help.

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Find fellow researchers

Groups with active Colorectal cancer work.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Houston, United States

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Sun Yat-sen University

Guangzhou, China

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Harvard University

Cambridge, United States

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Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College

Beijing, China

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Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Shanghai, China

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Zhejiang University

Hangzhou, China

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Southern Medical University

Guangzhou, China

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Nanjing Medical University

Nanjing, China

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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

New York, United States

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Mayo Clinic

Rochester, United States

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