Small Intestine Cancer

There’s more to learn about small intestine cancer.

Your chances of getting small intestine cancer increase as you get older.

A risk factor is anything that increases your risk for a disease.

Small intestine cancer is rare, and it happens more often in people who are 80 or older, more commonly in men.

Some medical conditions that affect the digestive tract are risk factors, including:

• Crohn’s disease
• Celiac disease 
• Lynch syndrome
• Peutz-Jegherssyndrome
• Familial adenomatous polyposis

And some lifestyle choices are risk factors, such as:

• Smoking
• Excessive alcohol use
• A high-fat diet

Several tests may be needed for a small intestine cancer diagnosis.

If you have symptoms of small intestine cancer, your doctor will discuss your symptoms and your medical history with you.

To check for cancer, your doctor may have you go for imaging tests such as X-rays, CT, MRI, or PET scans.

Liver function tests and other blood tests can also be used to check for blood in your stool.

Your doctor might also recommend a procedure called an endoscopy, in which a long, thin tube with a camera in it is inserted into your body to look for tumors in the intestine.

Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery can be used to treat small intestine cancer.

Surgery is often the best option to remove all or part of the small intestine. This can be done with a traditional open procedure or with a laparoscopic technique. In laparoscopic surgery, small “keyhole” cuts are made in your abdomen, and the surgeon inserts tiny instruments and a tube with a tiny camera to guide the procedure.

Chemotherapy and radiation also may be used to kill any cancer cells that weren’t removed in the surgery.