Digestive or GI Cancer

St. Elizabeth Healthcare takes a team approach to screening, diagnosing and treating digestive and gastrointestinal cancer. No two people and no two cancers are identical. Our experts work together to treat your unique condition.

What You Should Know About Digestive Cancer

Digestive and gastrointestinal cancers are cancers that affect your digestive system, liver, gallbladder or bile ducts. It’s the most common form of cancer in the United States for both men and women. It tends to occur most often in people over 60.

Types of digestive cancer include:

Symptoms of GI cancers vary depending on its location and severity. Warning signs include:

  • Abdominal pain.
  • Blood in the stool.
  • Constipation.
  • Diarrhea.
  • Fatigue.
  • Feeling bloated.
  • Heartburn.
  • Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes).
  • Loss of appetite.
  • Nausea.
  • Problems swallowing.
  • Unexplained weight loss.
  • Vomiting.
Man suffering from stomachache

Make an appointment

For more information, please contact your oncologist or the Cancer Care Center at (859) 301-4000.

Preventing Digestive Cancer

Making positive lifestyle choices and visiting your doctor regularly can lower your risk for digestive cancer. Lifestyle changes that can help reduce your risk include:

  • Avoid smoking — Smoking is linked to many cancers, including cancers of the colon, pancreas, pharynx (throat), esophagus (swallowing tube) and stomach.

  • Decrease alcohol consumption — Heavy alcohol use is associated with cancers of the esophagus, pancreas, liver and colon.

  • Diet — A diet rich in fruits, green vegetables, and whole grains can lower your risk of digestive cancers.

  • Exercise — Thirty minutes a day of exercise can decrease your risk of many cancers and help keep you at a healthy weight.

  • Maintain a healthy weight — Obesity is a risk factor in many cancers and increases your risk of colon cancer.

Common Risk Factors of Digestive Cancers

Digestive cancers can be caused by a number of different factors, but they share some common risk factors, including:

  • Environmental exposures.
  • Family history of digestive cancer.
  • Infection with helicobacter pylori, bacteria that can cause stomach ulcers.
  • Pernicious anemia.
  • Stomach or intestinal polyps.

Digestive Cancer Screening

Your physician may recommend screening with a simple blood test if you are at high risk for liver, pancreatic or endocrine cancer.

There are a number of screening tests for colon and rectal cancer, including a colonoscopy. A colonoscopy is considered the most effective at finding colorectal cancer early. Regular colonoscopy exams should begin at age 50 or earlier if you have a family history of colon cancer. Your doctor will recommend a follow-up screening schedule based on your first colonoscopy results and your risk factors.

Genetic Testing for Digestive Cancer

We know that a cancer diagnosis comes with many questions — including whether a family member is at risk for getting cancer too or whether your cancer diagnosis is hereditary. The certified genetic counselors at St. Elizabeth Healthcare are here to help you uncover those answers.

If you have a family history of cancer or are concerned about your risk for digestive cancer, genetic counseling is an option to consider. Genetic counseling provides important information to you and your family about cancer risk and risk reduction and prevention.

For patients diagnosed with digestive cancer, our hereditary cancer program offers information and resources on inherited disease. Our team recommends that patients diagnosed with this cancer undergo a genetic evaluation to determine genetic risk. Genetic testing can help determine how a cancer will respond to treatment — and allow us to develop a laser-focused treatment plan specific to your cancer cells’ anatomy.

Digestive Cancer Diagnosis

If your doctor suspects that you have digestive cancer, we may run tests to determine the type of cancer and develop the best treatment plan. These tests may include:

  • Endoscopic ultrasound — A procedure that uses sound waves to view inside your body.
  • Endoscopy — A procedure that helps find most stomach cancers by looking inside the stomach with a thin, lighted tube called an endoscope.

  • Genetic testing — A process that can uncover inherited diseases, for instance, patients from families with the HDGC gene associated with stomach cancer.

  • Imaging tests, including CT, MRI and PET scans — Procedures that provide an internal view of your system and any tumors or abnormal masses.

  • Tissue biopsy — Removal of cells or tissues to determine whether cancer is present.

At St. Elizabeth Healthcare, we have an MRI test specifically for pelvis and rectal cancer. Our radiology team also has specialists dedicated to diagnosing rectal and pelvic cancer.

Dr. Bikhchandani speaks with patient in medical office.

Getting a Second Opinion

If you have a diagnosis of digestive cancer, you want to make sure you have a team of experts by your side. We can provide a second opinion and present treatment options.

Digestive Cancer Treatments

At St. Elizabeth Healthcare, we believe in caring for you, not just treating your cancer. Our holistic approach means we combine cancer treatment to minimize side effects and help you manage them. Our goal is to make you as comfortable as possible while using innovative approaches to treat your cancer.

We have a team of doctors that reviews every digestive cancer diagnosis. The team includes medical oncologists specializing in immunotherapy and precision medicine, surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, thoracic surgeons, pain management specialists, genetic counselors, pathologists, nutritionists, pharmacists, nurses and support staff members. They work together to create a treatment plan that’s just right for you.

Your treatment plan may include:

  • Chemotherapy — Therapy that uses drugs injected through intravenous drip or taken by mouth to attack and kill cancer cells.

  • Radiation therapy — Therapy that uses high-energy radiation to shrink tumors and kill cancer cells, including progressive radiation treatments such as proton-based stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). SBRT is effective in treating liver tumors that cannot be treated by other methods. SBRT can deliver more precise radiation, saving healthy tissue. SBRT is also used when there is a recurrence of cancer, where standard radiation treatment could not be used again.

  • Clinical trials — Innovative drug and genetic therapies used to treat digestive cancers.

  • Immunotherapy — Medication therapy that stimulates your own immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells.

  • Interventional radiation procedures — Non-surgical, minimally invasive procedures to kill or shrink tumors. We use radiofrequency ablation and embolization to destroy small tumors without surgery and chemoembolization to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to the tumor.

  • Surgery — Minimally invasive and traditional surgical procedures, including robotic resections of the liver, rectum, colon, esophagus, stomach, bowel, and resections of multiple organs (multi visceral resections). We specialize in sphincter-saving surgery, preserving the function of your sphincter.

  • Precision medicine— Medication therapy uses your DNA to specifically target the cells that lead to cancer and stop cancer from forming and spreading.

  • Supportive care — Helping you coordinate appointments and treating the side effects from your cancer or cancer treatment.

Nurse Navigators:
A Personal Team Dedicated to You

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Our nurse navigators are vital in guiding and supporting you through your health journey. With their specialized knowledge and compassionate approach, nurse navigators offer constant assistance, providing valuable information, coordinating appointments and helping to navigate the healthcare system. They offer emotional support, answer questions and address concerns to ensure you feel empowered and well-informed.

By serving as a trusted advocate, nurse navigators steer you through the challenges of cancer treatment, enhancing your overall experience and providing personalized care every step of the way.

Call (859) 212-5901 to learn more.

Digestive Cancer Surveillance

When you are diagnosed with digestive cancer and have completed treatment, we monitor your condition to make sure you remain healthy. Our goal is to eliminate any possible recurrence as early as possible. After your cancer is treated, we will continue to see you every three months until we feel yearly monitoring would be safe.

Routine screening is a proven method to detect cancer early. Our comprehensive surveillance schedule meets your unique medical needs and can include:

  • Follow-up visits
  • Occupational therapy
  • Physical therapy
  • Routine testing
  • Specialist appointments
  • Support group recommendations

Certified oncology data specialists maintain and update our Cancer Registry. St. Elizabeth keeps a record of all the cancer cases we’ve diagnosed or treated since 2000. We use this database to gather vital information, stay on top of trends, measure the effectiveness of different treatments, and gauge cancer’s impact on our community.

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