Pancreatic, Gastric, and other Gastrointestinal Cancers

According to 2009 estimates from the American Cancer Society, cancers originating in the gastrointestinal tract rank second in both incidence and cancer-related deaths. One in four deaths in the United States is caused by cancer, with 25% of cancer-related deaths caused by gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies; more than 50% of these deaths are caused by cancer of the pancreas, stomach, esophagus, liver, or biliary tract. Recent advances in molecular biology, medical genetics, and imaging and endoscopic techniques, as well as the development of antitumor agents, have significantly altered the approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of GI cancers. The chapter covers esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, hepatocellular, biliary tract, and anal cancers, as well as GI stromal tumors and gastric lymphoma. Coverage of all cancers includes diagnosis and treatment; various sections include information on epidemiology, etiology, risk factors, screening and prevention, molecular mutations, pathogenesis, and/or metastatic disease. Figures depict a barium esophagogram showing squamous cell carcinoma; imaging of esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, and pancreatic cancer; a pedigree of a family with inactivation of germline mutation of E-cadherin; hereditary gastric cancer; gastric cancer survival rates after gastrectomy; axial T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showing cancer of the pancreatic head; and T1- and T2-weighted MRIs of intrahepatic bile duct carcinoma. Tables provide information on new cases and mortality from GI cancer in 2009; guidelines for diagnosis and surveillance of Barrett esophagus; the declining incidence of gastric cancer in Japan, Slovenia, and the United States; TNM staging of gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma; the incidence of familial pancreatic carcinoma; molecular mutations involved in pancreatic cancer; staging of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia; and the Chinese University Prognostic Index. This review contains 9 figures, 39 tables, and 173 references. Keywords: biliary cancer, carcinoma, endoscopic, esophageal, gastric, hepatic, lesions, lymphoma, malignant, mutations