Small intestine cancer medical therapy

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Qurrat-ul-ain Abid, M.D.[2], Parminder Dhingra, M.D. [3]

Best treatment for cure small intestine cancer is surgical resection with combination of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. If tumor is not curable palliative surgery may be done. Chemotherapy is used to reduce the likelihood of metastasis, shrink tumor size, and slow tumor growth. Chemotherapy is often applied after surgery (adjuvant), before surgery (neo-adjuvant), or as primary therapy if surgery is not indicated (palliative). Other therapies include radiation and support therapies.

• The treatment of small intestine cancer is clinically challenging due to its delayed diagnosis.^[1]
• Main stay of the treatment is surgery for these tumors.^[2].
• Patients with small intestine cancer have several treatment options.
• The selection depends on the the size and location of the tumor, metastasis, and comorbidities.
• The options are:
  • Surgery
  • Radiation therapy
  • Chemotherapy
  • Combination of methods and palliative treatment
• The capecitabine and oxaliplatin are found effective in some studies.^[2]
• Side effect profile varies with each individual as well as each treatment session.

• The treatment is to use drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing.
• Some general chemotherapy drugs used include: 5-fluorouracil (5FU), leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan.
• Role of adjuvant chemotherapy for small intestinal cancer is not established yet.^[3]
• When curative resection is not possible, palliative surgery and chemotherapy are next options.^[4]

• Radiotherapy is used as an adjunct therapy in the treatment of small intestinal cancer.
• This is a cancer treatment to kill cancer cells or keep them from growing by using high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation.

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