Small intestine cancer (patient information)
Editor-in-Chief: Jane Wu
Please Join in Editing This Page and Apply to be an Editor-In-Chief for this topic: There can be one or more than one Editor-In-Chief. You may also apply to be an Associate Editor-In-Chief of one of the subtopics below. Please mail us [1] to indicate your interest in serving either as an Editor-In-Chief of the entire topic or as an Associate Editor-In-Chief for a subtopic. Please be sure to attach your CV and or biographical sketch.
What is Small intestine cancer
Small intestine cancer is a rare digestive tract cancer in the United States. It occurs in the small intestine which is responsible for digesting and absorbing the food you eat and then transporting the food debris to large intestine. Frequent symptoms are abdominal pain or lumps, weight loss for no reason or blood in the stool. It can be diagnosed by image tests. Surgery is the most common treatment. Additional options include chemotherapy, radiation or a combination.
How do I know if I have Small intestine cancer and what are the symptoms of Small intestine cancer?
Early stomach cancer does not make any symptoms. When the cancer grows larger, people may notice one or more symptoms as the following:
- abdominal discomfort or pain: It is relatively mild pain or no pain may be present with life-threatening condition. With the development of the cancer, abdominal pain may be persistent.
- weight loss: This is because of the consumption of the cancer.
- weakness and fatigue: The reason is also because the cancer wastes your energy.
Other health problems may also cause these symptoms. Only a doctor can tell for sure. A person with any of these symptoms should tell the doctor so that problems can be diagnosed and treated as early as possible
Who is at risk for Small intestine cancer?
There are some factors may increase the risk of acquiring small intestine cancer potentially. These risk factors are outlined in the table below:
- Crohns disease: Crohns disease is a kind of immune system disease in small intestine. This disease can affect any part of the small intestine, especially in the ileum. Patients with this problem have a risk of 28 times higher than normal to develope cancer.
- Celiac disease: This can also known as celiac sprue and gluten-sensitive enteropathy. As an immune system disease, the body makes antibodies that attack the lining of the intestines. Clinical survey show that patients with celiac disease have an increased risk of small intestine cancers.
- Some inherited causes such as Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) and Cystic fibrosis (CF)
- Smoking and alcohol use
- Age: Small intestinal cancer becomes more common as people get older.
- Gender: Men have higher risk than women to develope small intestine cancer.