Intestinal Cancer

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors
• Treatments and Therapies

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• Living With
• Genetics

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Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Patient Handouts

Summary

Your small intestine is part of your digestive system. It is a long tube that connects your stomach to your large intestine. Intestinal cancer is rare, but eating a high-fat diet or having Crohn's disease, celiac disease, or a history of colonic polyps can increase your risk.

Possible signs of small intestine cancer include:

• Abdominal pain
• Weight loss for no reason
• Blood in the stool
• A lump in the abdomen

Imaging tests that create pictures of the small intestine and the area around it can help diagnose intestinal cancer and show whether it has spread.

Surgery is the most common treatment. Additional options include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or a combination.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

Start Here

• General Information about Small Intestine Cancer (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
• What Are Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors? (American Cancer Society)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Stages and Other Prognostic Factors (American Cancer Society)
• Small Intestine Cancer (Adenocarcinoma) Stages (American Cancer Society)
• Stages of Small Intestine Cancer (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
• Tests for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (American Cancer Society)
• Tests for Small Intestine Cancer (Adenocarcinoma) (American Cancer Society)
• Understanding Capsule Endoscopy (American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy) Also in Spanish
• Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) Series (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• Upper GI Endoscopy (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Risk Factors (American Cancer Society)
• Risk Factors for Small Intestine Cancer (Adenocarcinoma)? (American Cancer Society)

Treatments and Therapies

• Drugs Approved for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (National Cancer Institute)
• Small bowel resection - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Small Intestine Cancer Treatment (National Cancer Institute)
• Treating Small Intestine Cancer (Adenocarcinoma) (American Cancer Society)
• Treatment Option Overview (Small Intestine Cancer) (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish

Living With

• Living as a Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Survivor (American Cancer Society)
• Living as a Small Intestine Cancer Survivor (American Cancer Society)

Genetics

• Gastrointestinal stromal tumor: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• What Causes Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors? (American Cancer Society)

Statistics and Research

• Cancer Statistics: Small Intestine Cancer (National Cancer Institute)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Duodenal Neoplasms (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: "Tip-in underwater endoscopic mucosal resection" without submucosal injection for superficial nonampullary...
• Article: The clinical implication of minimally invasive versus open pancreatoduodenectomy for non-pancreatic...
• Article: Small-bowel B-cell lymphoma presenting as autoimmune hemolytic anemia and severe obscure...
• Intestinal Cancer -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Dictionary of Cancer Terms (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish

Find an Expert

• American Cancer Society
• Find a Cancer Doctor (American Society of Clinical Oncology)
• National Cancer Institute Also in Spanish
• Organizations that Offer Cancer Support Services (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish

Children

• Childhood Gastrointestinal Neuroendocrine Tumors Treatment (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
• Childhood Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors Treatment (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Abdominal radiation - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• After chemotherapy - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Enteroscopy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Radiation enteritis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Small bowel resection (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Small bowel resection - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish