Intestinal Cancer

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Intestinal Cancer

Basics

Summary
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Diagnosis and Tests
Prevention and Risk Factors
Treatments and Therapies

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Living With
Related Issues
Genetics

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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

How Are Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors Diagnosed? (American Cancer Society)
How Are Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors Staged? (American Cancer Society)
How Is Small Intestine Adenocarcinoma Diagnosed? (American Cancer Society)
How Is Small Intestine Adenocarcinoma Staged? (American Cancer Society)
Stages of Small Intestine Cancer (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
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

What Are the Risk Factors for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors? (American Cancer Society)
What Are the Risk Factors for Small Intestine Adenocarcinoma? (American Cancer Society)

Treatments and Therapies

General Treatment Information for Small Intestine Adenocarcinoma (American Cancer Society)
Small bowel resection - slideshow (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Small Intestine Cancer Treatment (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
Treatment for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GISTs) Based on Tumor Spread (American Cancer Society)
Treatment Option Overview (Small Intestine Cancer) (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish

Living With

What Happens After Treatment for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor? (American Cancer Society)
What Happens After Treatment for Small Intestine Adenocarcinoma? (American Cancer Society)

Related Issues

What Should You Ask Your Doctor about Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors? (American Cancer Society)
What Should You Ask Your Doctor About Small Intestine Adenocarcinoma? (American Cancer Society)

Genetics

Do We Know What Causes Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors? (American Cancer Society)
Genetics Home Reference: gastrointestinal stromal tumor (National Library of Medicine)
Juvenile Polyposis Syndrome (American Society of Clinical Oncology)

Statistics and Research

Cancer Statistics: Cancer of the Small Intestine (National Cancer Institute)
What Are the Key Statistics about Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors? (American Cancer Society)
What's New in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Research and Treatment? (American Cancer Society)

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)

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 Support Services (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