Gastrointestinal Cancers
Gastrointestinal cancers (often referred to as abdominal cancer) include:
- Colon
- Esophageal
- Hepatic (Liver)
- Pancreatic
- Rectal
- Stomach
At the Comprehensive Cancer Center, management of abdominal cancers focuses on preventive measures, early detection and the most advanced forms of treatment.
Some of these cancers are among the most complex and difficult to treat, and patients can take comfort in knowing they are being treated by a team of specialists that is among the most experienced in the country.
Each week, surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, gastroenterologists and diagnostic radiologists meet to discuss patient cases to develop the most effective treatment plan for each patient.
In addition to medical and surgical management of these cancers, patients have access to numerous clinical trials developed locally, regionally and nationally. New drug and radiation therapies are being explored through these trials. An important part of our research is symptom management and minimizing potential side effects.
Among the treatment options available are:
- Open, minimally invasive and laparoscopic surgery
- Radiofrequency ablation – a non-surgical localized treatment
that kills tumor cells with heat while sparing healthy tissue
- Thermal ablation– uses microwave energy to kill cancer
cells
- Cryoablation – a tumor-freezing technique
- Stereotactic body radiotherapy and selective internal
radiation therapy
- The latest chemotherapy treatments
- Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) – Since
1991, patients with advanced cancer of the abdomen have been treated at Wake
Forest Baptist with this promising and innovative therapy. It involves surgical
removal of all visible cancer from the patient’s abdomen, followed by heated
chemotherapy drugs that are placed directly into the abdominal cavity to bring
the drugs directly into contact with the remaining cancer cells.
Our team is committed to making each patient’s experience the best and most promising it can be -- and we will continue to search for new and improved ways to treat these cancers.