Cancer occurs when the DNA of cells in your body are altered, resulting in the unregulated abnormal growth of structures called tumors. One area that commonly sees problems with tumor growth is around the rectal tissue, commonly referred to as rectal cancer. In fact, more than an estimated 40,000 new cases of rectal cancer are diagnosed each year, according to the National Cancer Institute. When these cases occur, there are several forms of treatment available depending on the severity of the cancer.Surgical RemovalThe option of surgery to remove rectal cancer depends on how far along your cancer is, and whether it has become metastatic, spreading to other tissues of your body. With new technology available, surgery for rectal cancer can now often be done through less invasive laparoscopic surgery. While some early cases may be removed with surgery alone, it is also common to combine surgery with other forms of treatment like radiation or chemotherapy.RadiationRadiation therapy uses high doses of radiation to kill off cancer cells and shrink tumors of the rectal tissue. This helps prevent cancer from spreading, as well as can help reduce tumors to a size that can be more easily removed surgically. In radiation, the treatment can be highly focused to a specific area, reducing the side effects that are seen with more systemic treatments like chemotherapy. This also reduces the damage to surrounding tissues.ChemotherapyWhen cancer has spread outside of the rectal tissue, a more system-wide treatment is needed to ensure that all cancer cells are destroyed. When this is the case, chemotherapy is used, especially in cases where cancer cells have affected nearby lymph nodes. Chemotherapy is a drug that can be given either orally or intravenously. This allows the drugs to travel throughout the body and target cancer cells. Unfortunately, chemotherapy targets all fast dividing cells in the body, which can result in common side effects like hair loss and nail loss, along with a long list of other possible side effects. Chemotherapy is often used to make cancer cells more susceptible to treatment by radiation, or to shrink cancer tumors to a level where surgery can be more effective.