Gastrointestinal cancer
Tumours of the digestive system are those that can be present in the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, rectum and anal canal. Tumours of the pancreas, liver, gallbladder, and bile ducts are also included. Although colorectal cancer is the most common in this group, incidence of pancreatic cancer has increased over the recent years.
The risk of developing these types of cancer is associated with risk factors depending on their location within the digestive system, such as tobacco use or infection by the Helicobacter Pylori bacteria in the case of gastric cancer. Diagnostic tests will depend on the location of the tumour and are based on analytics, endoscopy, ultrasound, tomography, magnetic resonance and PET-CT, among others.
Treatment, depending on the type, location and stage of the disease, can be surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiation therapy. Radiation therapy with techniques such as Intensity Modulated (IMRT), Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) and Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) provide an improvement in tumour dose coverage by improving the dose received by healthy organs. It is increasingly common for these primary tumours, metastases or disease recurrence to be treated with Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT), a technique that allows treating ablative doses with maximum precision and in a few sessions, together with breathing control techniques.
Types of gastrointestinal cancer: Pancreas cancer and Colorectal cancer.
