A remote consultation is a valuable resource when you face complex medical issues or difficult treatment decision. Our remote consultation program offers patients access to leading specialists at Asan Medical Center.
Why should you receive treatment of
colorectal cancer in AMC ?
The incidence of colorectal cancer has been rapidly growing in world-wide. According to the Korea Central Cancer Registry’s statistics, colorectal cancer occurred in about 20 out of 100,000 people in 1999, but doubled in a decade to about 40 out of 100,000 people in 2014. This trend is expected to continue.
Around 2,500 patients are diagnosed with colorectal cancer and treated in AMC every year, which accounts for about 10% of 28,000 colorectal cancer patients in Korea. Considering the statistics that around 20% of overall patients were inoperable stage-four cancer patients, the number of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer and treated by colorectal cancer team in AMC Cancer Institute is estimated to far outnumber it.
As various treatment options have been developed, it became very complicated to decide which to choose. Especially in case of four-stage cancers with remote metastasis, locally advanced rectal cancers, and recurrent colorectal cancers, the center provides accurate diagnosis and combined use of diverse treatment approaches are needed through a collaboration with many other departments, and customized best treatment to each patient through multidisciplinary consultation and treatment.
AMC has been actively engaged in a variety researches on colorectal cancer surgery and treatment as well as basic researches on a hereditary mechanism of colorectal cancer to publish more than 20-30 research papers. Treatment outcomes have improved by developing new medicines and four clinical trials in new drugs for colorectal cancer (164, 177, MODUL, COTEZO) have been carried out as of 2016. In 2017, new clinical trials of three new drugs (apatinib, ibrutinib+cetuximab, encorafenib) are scheduled, and clinical researches are actively underway on the use of new strategies for using new drugs as well as existing drugs.
Treatment options
AMC Colorectal Cancer Center improves the treatment outcomes through a multidisciplinary system and integrated treatment to provide best treatment by embracing various opinions of specialists from relevant departments on liver metastasis that often occurs in colorectal cancers, lung metastasis, and locally recurrent cancers such as intractable colorectal cancer.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy specialists offer optimal treatment to each patient through chemotherapy. As of 2016, around 1,000 colorectal cancer patients have been treated in AMC Colorectal Cancer Center. The center has a chemotherapy infusion room which opens during holidays to help patients to receive treatment conveniently. The center also has a cancer emergency room to quickly respond to adverse effects and emergencies. It creates an environment where patients can receive treatment more safely and conveniently.
Radiotherapy
AMC Radiation Oncology department is the largest-scale radiation therapy institution in Korea, which is equipped with world-class cutting-edge medical system and treats more than 5,000 patients every year. The division has a total of ten state-of-the-art external beam radiation therapy machines including TrueBeam, TomoTherapy, CyberKnife, and one brachytherapy treatment machine. These are used to implement advanced high-precision special treatment such as stereotactic body radiation therapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, image guided radiation therapy, and respiratory gated radiation therapy,
Surgery
AMC Colon and Rectal Surgery department performed the largest number of colorectal cancer surgeries in Korea, which accounts for about 10% of overall colorectal cancer patients in Korea every year.
1) Laparoscopic surgery: Recently, laparoscopic surgery is applied to more than 60% of overall colorectal cancer patients, improving patients’ quality of life and survival rates.
2) Robotic surgery: Robotic surgery allows a delicate and safe surgery in the narrow pelvis, preserving defecation, urination, and sexual functions as well as the anus.
Treatment Performance
Five-year survival rates of brachytherapy: 95% (stage-one), 90% (stage-two), and 70-75% (stage-three) (far better results compared to the United States having the largest number of colorectal cancer patients)
Performed more than 150 robotic surgeries per year: 208 cases (the largest number in Korea)
Performed a laparoscopic surgery in more than 60% of overall colorectal cancer patients
Performed around 10% of colorectal cancer treatment in Korea
Performed 1,927 primary colorectal cancer surgeries as of 2016
