What Are the Symptoms of Small Intestine Cancer?

Small intestine cancer refers to malignant tumors that occur in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum and are rare. Small intestine malignant tumors account for about 2% to 3% of all malignant tumors in the gastrointestinal tract. The incidence of men is about twice as high as that of women, and the prevalence increases after the age of 45, and it is more common in the age of 60 to 70. Primary malignant tumors of the small intestine are divided into four categories: cancer, carcinoid, malignant lymphoma, and sarcoma.

Basic Information

Visiting department: Oncology
Common locations: Small intestine
Common causes: Unknown cause

Common symptoms: Abdominal mass, abdominal pain, intestinal obstruction, fever, anemia, weight loss, etc .; those in the duodenum may have jaundice, frequent vomiting, etc.
Contagious: no

Causes of Small Intestine Cancer

The cause is unknown. Small intestine tumors are more common in the ileum, followed by jejunum, and most often duodenum. Small intestine tumors are rare due to: the contents of the small intestine are liquid and alkaline; the number of bacteria in the small intestine is high; the content of specific enzymes is high; the movement is fast; secretion of high concentrations of IgA; Cell-based, strong immune function.

Small bowel cancer clinical manifestations

The symptoms and course of malignant tumors of the small intestine vary depending on the type and location of the tumor. It is generally believed that the average course of adenocarcinoma is 5-6 months, that of leiomyosarcoma is 8-9 months, and that of carcinoid is 12-25 months. Symptoms appear earlier in the duodenum; carcinoids occur more often in the ileum, with symptoms relatively late. Symptoms of small intestine malignant tumors are abdominal mass, abdominal pain, intestinal obstruction, fever, anemia, weight loss, etc .; those in the duodenum may have jaundice, frequent vomiting, etc .; tumor perforation may have peritonitis.

Small bowel cancer test

Barium radiography of small intestine cancer

Small bowel barium imaging can show the location and extent of small bowel disease, but the positive rate is low. Air-barium dual angiography, especially the small intestine air-barium dual angiography, can improve the diagnosis rate of small bowel hemorrhagic lesions by 10% to 25%. Small bowel barium angiography has almost no diagnostic value for vascular lesions.

2. Radionuclide imaging

Radionuclide imaging is a non-invasive examination, which is mainly used for localization of small intestinal bleeding, and its sensitivity is stronger than that of angiography. The positive rate of diagnosis of active small intestinal bleeding is 40% to 50%, but false positives sometimes occur.

3. Angiography

Angiography should be selected for small bowel disease, especially for gastrointestinal bleeding. This method is an effective method of diagnosis and treatment. As long as the extravasation of the contrast medium is seen, a clear diagnosis can be made and embolization treatment can be performed at the same time. However, this test is affected by the speed of blood loss and the timing of the test, and the contrast medium must be injected into the blood supply arteries at the bleeding site during the bleeding event to succeed.

4. Capsule endoscope

The advent of capsule endoscopy has revolutionized the diagnosis of small bowel disease. The capsule endoscope is only the size of a paper clip. During the examination, the patient only needs to swallow the capsule endoscope like a medicine capsule and wear a data recorder vest. After swallowing the capsules, the doctor can confirm that the capsules enter the small intestine and leave the hospital. The whole inspection process takes 8 to 10 hours. After the inspection, the capsule is discharged from the anus on its own. Capsule endoscopy is safe, non-invasive, and has good compliance, but it also has the disadvantages of being unable to perform pathological examination and endoscopic treatment.

5.Double balloon endoscopy

Double balloon endoscopy can make up for the shortcomings of capsule endoscopy, further improve the diagnosis rate of small bowel disease, and have a higher diagnosis rate for small bowel bleeding, small bowel obstruction and abdominal pain of unknown origin. It is currently the gold standard for small bowel disease diagnosis. The disadvantage is that the examination takes a long time and the patient is more painful. In view of the fact that the operation of the double-balloon endoscope is time-consuming, has high technical requirements for the operator, and has certain operating risks, it has not been fully popularized in China.

6.CT virtual endoscopy

Using spiral CT thin-layer non-interval scanning and computer 3D reconstruction, a dynamic reconstructed image similar to endoscope can be obtained. Its limitations are that it cannot observe the color change of the mucosa, cannot distinguish the superficial microstructure changes, and cannot perform biopsy and microscopy.

7. Laparotomy

It is the most direct and effective way, but it also causes the most damage to people.

Small bowel cancer diagnosis

Small intestine malignant tumors are difficult to diagnose clinically, early diagnosis is more difficult, and the diagnosis rate of duodenal tumors is higher. The diagnosis is mainly based on clinical manifestations combined with gastroscopy or fiber enteroscopy and small bowel angiography.

Differential diagnosis of small bowel cancer

It must be distinguished from local enteritis, benign tumors of the small intestine, adhesive intestinal obstruction, peritoneal tuberculosis, ovarian tumors, and spontaneous intussusception or torsion of the small intestine.

Small bowel cancer treatment

Small intestine cancer is mainly treated by surgery. Tumors of the jejunum and ileum are found to be relatively limited during surgical exploration. The diseased intestinal canal and mesenteric regional lymph nodes should be removed at the same time. For the treatment of duodenal cancer, because the duodenum is closely related to the anatomy of the pancreas, the duodenum and the head of the pancreas are often removed at the same time during surgery (pancreatoduodenectomy). If the cancer has distant metastasis or the cancer involves the upper mesenteric arteries and veins and cannot be separated, you can perform bypass operations such as gastric jejunostomy according to the different obstruction sites to relieve the obstruction and open the feeding channel to enhance the body's resistance. Disease capacity and open up ways to take anti-cancer Chinese medicine. For terminal ileum cancer, right hemicolectomy should be performed. If the tumor cannot be removed or can not be completely removed, anticancer drugs can be injected into the tumor during the operation, and chemical treatment and traditional Chinese medicine can be added after the operation. Chemical drugs commonly used 5-Fu, mitomycin, vincristine and so on. ^[1]