Gastrointestinal cancers (GI) may severely affect your digestive tract. Experts haven’t found exact causes, but gastrointestinal cancers can be linked to lifestyle habits and genetic conditions.
While gastrointestinal cancers are complex, they’re often treatable when found early and that’s why it’s important to know the symptoms. Learn about risk factors, symptoms, screening, and steps you can take to help reduce your risk.
Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers affect the GI tract, also called the digestive tract. The digestive tract is a tube that goes from the mouth to the rectum. It carries food and liquids and turns them into energy in the process.
GI cancers include cancers of the:
GI cancer affects these areas when uncontrolled cell growth occurs in the digestive tract or doctors can’t remove malignant cells on time. Cancer cells may spread to other parts of the body through the lymph nodes — a system of vessels that carry white blood cells that help to fight infections in your body.
Gastrointestinal cancer tends to develop in men more than in women. According to the National Library of Medicine (NLM), 8 in 100 men develop GI cancer before age 75, compared to 4 in 100 women.
There are several factors that can increase your risk of developing gastrointestinal cancer. Gastrointestinal cancer risk factors include:
If you have inflammatory bowel disease, or a family history of GI cancer, you may need screening even earlier, before you turn 45.
Early symptoms of gastrointestinal cancer can be vague and depend on the specific type of cancer.
Those symptoms may include:
If you notice any of these symptoms, make an appointment with your primary care provider.
Gastrointestinal cancer screening includes:
Regular colonoscopies can detect colorectal cancers at an early stage, when treatment is easiest and most effective.
Doctors can also remove precancerous polyps during a colonoscopy. These are growths that may eventually turn into cancer. Removing the polyps means stopping cancer before it has a chance to take hold.
Your doctor may perform a biopsy as part of a cancer screening procedure, like colonoscopy. In other cases, doctors may obtain a biopsy following a suspicious test finding.
If you have a family history of colon or other GI cancers, genetic testing can help providers assess your cancer risk. Knowing your risk may lead us to recommend additional testing and screenings, and more frequent colon cancer screenings.
Your lifestyle choices can influence your risk of gastrointestinal cancers. While multiple risk factors may influence a person having gastrointestinal cancer, there are multiple steps you can take to reduce the risk of getting it.
Here’s how:
Gastrointestinal cancers may require several different types of treatments, such as:
Treatment for GI cancer can be complicated. It’s important to have a supportive team experienced in treating these cancers and managing side effects.
Your care team may include GI cancer specialists, GI surgeons, interventional endoscopists who perform diagnostic endoscopies, and many others.