Cancers regardless of where it occurs usually start in one section of the body. If this is not treated, the cells will spread to nearby tissues and this is exactly what happens when you have stage 2 colon cancer.

Stage 2 colon cancer is also known as Duke B colon cancer. There are two types namely 2A and 2B. You are diagnosed to have 2A colon cancer if it has spread beyond the middle tissue layers of the colon wall or has infected around the rectum. You will have 2B if it has gone beyond the peritoneum.

Stage 4 colon cancer is the most advanced colon cancer stage. The stage of a cancer, usually 1 to 4, indicates how much the disease has spread. It often takes into account the size of the tumor, how deep it has penetrated, whether it has invaded nearby organs, if and how many lymph nodes it has metastasized to, and whether it has reached distant organs.

The staging of cancer is essential because the stage during diagnosis is the strongest predictor of survival. Additionally, recommended treatments are often changed based on the cancer stage. Generally, the earlier the stage, the easier the cancer is to treat. There are five stages of colon cancer, from stages 0 to 4.

Next to lung cancer, colon cancer is the second leading cause of death in the country. Colon cancer often starts with just a few benign polyps in the areas of the gastrointestinal tracts but undetected, these polyps can spread to other organs of the body and develop into cancerous cells. This is the terminal colon cancer stage.

This is perhaps why it is important for people to detect these polyps early on so as to prevent the development of cancer to the terminal stage. Early diagnosis in fact is very much important not only the prevention but also in the treatment of terminal colon cancer. Even if the disease has already spread, a much earlier diagnosis has a better prognosis because it is much easier to treat than a disease that is already in the terminal stages.