Gastrointestinal Cancer
The Gastrointestinal (GI) Tract is 25-foot-long pathway which extends from the mouth to the anus. Food eaten passes through the esophagus and gets digested in the stomach and small intestines to extract nutrients. Ultimately, the waste is removed from your body through the colon and rectum.
A tumor can form in one of these organs, when a change in the DNA causes abnormal cells to grow. The cause could be anything from underlying conditions to lifestyle choices to genetics.
The most common types of gastrointestinal cancers are as follows:
- Esophageal cancer
- Gastric (stomach) cancer
- Colorectal cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Liver cancer
Gastrointestinal cancer is common, worldwide. Treatments are more effective when the cancer is detected at an early stage—which, unfortunately, can be a challenge.
Signs and symptoms of gastrointestinal cancers?
Most of the time, symptoms of gastrointestinal cancers don’t occur until the tumor has become more advanced. Then, they depend on the type of cancer. Patients with esophageal cancer may have difficulty swallowing, whereas those with gastric cancer will notice ulcer-like symptoms (e.g., indigestion, loss of appetite, bloating and pain). Liver cancer and pancreatic cancer can also lead to abdominal pain, and colorectal cancer—as you might expect—causes changes in bowel function or bleeding.
How are gastrointestinal cancers diagnosed?
If patients have symptoms and the doctor has reason to suspect a diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancer, they may perform some of the following tests:
- Endoscopy or esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) to check the lining of the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine for tumors
- Colonoscopy to check the colon and rectum for polyps, which can become cancerous
- Lab tests to look for changes in the blood that could be signs of cancer
- Imaging studies (MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan or PET scan) to check for abnormal tissue anywhere in the digestive system.
- An endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) may be necessary. In this procedure, a doctor inserts an endoscope—a thin tube equipped with a light, camera, and ultrasound probe—into the patient’s mouth, down their throat, and into the stomach. The probe emits sound waves to produce an image of the tissues that make up the stomach wall and other nearby tissues.
- Biopsy to obtain a sample of abnormal tissue and analyze it for the presence of cancer cells. Tissue samples are often collected during an endoscopy procedure. A pathologist then examines the tissue under a microscope to check for the presence of cancer cells.
How are gastrointestinal cancers treated?
When the tumor is easy to reach, surgery might be all that’s necessary. When it’s harder to reach or its removal would significantly affect gastrointestinal function, then chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or targeted therapy may be tried first. Some types of gastrointestinal cancers may be treated with targeted therapy (drugs that target specific components of the cancer cells) or immunotherapy (drugs that suppress or stimulate the patient’s immune system to help it better fight cancer).
Prevention /Screening
The good news is that healthy lifestyle changes can help reduce the risk for GI cancer. “There is a clear reduction in risk with a lifestyle that includes regular exercise, a low-fat diet high in fruits and vegetables, minimal red meat and moderate alcohol,”
Routine colorectal screening also markedly reduces the risk of colon cancer by finding and removing polyps before they have the chance to become cancerous, he says.
Recently, the incidence in patients under 50 is rapidly increasing. For this reason, the American Cancer Society recently recommended that routine colorectal cancer screening should start at age 45. It is important to catch colorectal cancers early, because if we do, they are highly curable.”