Cancer of the small intestine - symptoms

Small bowel cancer refers to rare oncological diseases of the digestive tract. Among other malignant tumors of the digestive tract, it occurs in only 2% of cases. But this disease has specific histophysiological features, and certain clinical manifestations, because it can be recognized at the first stages.

The first symptoms of small intestine cancer

Unfortunately, signs of small intestine cancer may not be apparent for a long time. The patient may not notice the appearance of such a serious ailment for months. Most often, the first symptoms occur when the neoplasm has already penetrated deeply into the intestinal tissues or began to metastasize into neighboring tissues and organs. These include the following phenomena:

• anemia ;
• sharp weight loss;
• stomach ache;
• stool with blood clots;
• obvious pallor of the mucous membrane of the nasal and oral cavity;
• regular alternations of constipation with diarrhea,
• constant changes in the quality and quantity of feces;
• pain in the act of defecation;
• decrease in the level of hemoglobin.

Later symptoms of small intestine cancer

If the initial stage is not treated with cancer of the small intestine, the symptoms become different. Thus, the patient has various dyspeptic disorders. It can be vomiting, bloating or nausea. Also, he may have permanent intestinal bleeding and obstructive intestinal obstruction.

At stage 3 and 4, the tumor can press on adjacent organs and tissues. The clinical prognosis of small intestine cancer in this case is that the patient can develop:

• jaundice;
• ascites ;
• pancreatitis;
• ischemia of the intestine.

A rapid growth of the tumor will lead to rupture of the small intestinal wall, which will trigger the onset of peritonitis, and this is a deadly state.

Diagnosis of small intestine cancer

Several diagnostics and examinations are assigned for the diagnosis of small intestine cancer. First of all, a patient with suspected presence of this disease should undergo FGDS and colonoscopy. it will detect tumors in the initial or terminal parts of the small intestine, and also obtain tissue samples that can finally confirm or disprove the diagnosis. In addition, the survey data will determine the histological type of tumor:

• lymphoma;
• adenocarcinoma;
• sarcoma, and others.

The patient may need to do an analysis for the definition of cancer markers of small intestine cancer. This is an ordinary blood test, which must be taken in the same way as blood for biochemistry.