Small Bowel Cancer Prevention
The cause of small bowel cancer is not well understood and established prevention strategies are limited.
Preventing Small Bowel Cancer
There are no established prevention protocols for small bowel cancer, unlike other gastrointestinal cancers, but certain conditions have been associated with an increased risk of developing small bowel cancer.
While lifestyle factors such as diet, alcohol use and tobacco use influence overall health, their direct role in small bowel cancers are not well established. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is still encouraged as part of overall cancer risk reduction.
Types of Small Bowel Cancer
Small bowel cancer is a rare disease in which cancerous cells form in the tissues of the small intestine. Small bowel cancer includes several subtypes, each with its own distinct biology and treatment approaches. The four main types of small bowel cancers:
- Adenocarcinoma, which arises from glandular cells lining the small intestine. This is the most common type of small bowel cancer.
- Neuroendocrine tumors develop from the hormone-producing cells.
- Lymphoma starts in the immune system cells in the small intestine.
- Soft-tissue sarcomas are cancers that grow in the body’s connective tissues. In small bowel cancer, the sarcoma is a gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST.
Diagnosing Small Bowel Cancer
As the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the state, Winship’s team of small bowel cancer experts focuses on giving patients an accurate diagnosis, which is critical to determining the most effective and targeted course of treatment.