Show Me Where Bowel and colorectal Colon cancer

Colon cancer explorer

A 3D picture to support a conversation with the clinical team. It does not diagnose or recommend treatment.

Guide

For the clinical team

Set up from the scan or colonoscopy report

Start with normal anatomy. Use the CT, colonoscopy or pathology report to show where a confirmed tumour is, how long it is and how deep it has grown, then show the operation your team has discussed. Initial tumour settings are examples: replace them with the report details. One tumour in the colon is illustrated; for a tumour in the rectum use the rectal cancer explorer.

Tumour

Tumour on the model

Changing a tumour setting below also adds it.

Part of the colon in the reportThe part sets the patient’s side: the ascending colon is on the patient’s right, the descending and sigmoid colon on the left.

Position along that part %

0 is the end nearer the caecum, 100 the end nearer the rectum. Use it to match a colonoscopy distance or a description such as “proximal sigmoid”.

Length of tumour along the bowel mm

How far round the bowel of 12

In twelfths of the circumference: 3 is a quarter, 6 is half, 12 is all the way round (annular).

How deep it has grown (T stage in the report)Enter the T stage as written by the team. The model draws it; it does not work out the stage.

Location, length, extent round the bowel and T stage come from the report. The tumour’s shape, the side of the bowel it is drawn on and the colon’s route are schematic. Lymph nodes and spread to other organs are not shown.

Views and layers

Use Whole body, Abdomen and Tumour to move closer in the same scene. The tumour view cuts the bowel open lengthways so the depth can be seen. Show / hide controls the body outline, nearby organs, the cut-away, measurements and labels. Use Snapshot to collect views for the patient’s sheet.

Large bowel (colon)TumourOperation shownSmall bowel

Drag to turn · scroll or pinch to zoom

Slice through the tumour

A schematic cross-section through the bowel at the tumour, front at the top, showing the layers of the wall and how far the tumour has grown through them. This is not the patient’s scan.

In plain words

Key measurements

Tumour values come from the report. The colon’s route and length are an average adult’s; the tumour’s shape is simplified.

Treatment options

Show the operation your team has discussed

Choose a picture of the planned operation. The model does not select a treatment.

Show

Some people have a stoma instead of, or as well as, a join. The stoma explorer shows these.

Share with the patient

Make a picture sheet to send

Set up each view you want, then press Snapshot above the model. You can add up to 4. If you add none, the current view is used.

Prepared for (optional)

Colorectal nurse or key worker (optional)

Note for the patient (optional)

Include the plain-words summary Include key measurements Include the operation shown Add a help and support page: questions to ask, who to contact and words you may hear Add a page explaining the labels in plain English Add a QR code that reopens this picture (holds the model settings only, never the name or notes)

Names and notes typed here never leave this device and are forgotten when you close the page. Check the sheet before sending, and use your organisation's approved secure route.

For the patient and family

Help and support

Questions to ask, words used in clinic and trusted information from the NHS and bowel cancer charities.

Open help and support

This is a simplified teaching model of one tumour in the colon. It does not interpret scans, diagnose, stage cancer or predict treatment effects. Lymph nodes, spread to other organs, more than one tumour and keyhole or robotic approaches are not shown. Important information · Nothing is saved.