Please select an option below to help us tailor your newsletter to best suit your content interests!
West Cancer Center & Research Institute is positioned as the region’s comprehensive leader in adult cancer care and research. Our team at West offers unparalleled Gastrointestinal Cancer treatment for patients across the Mid South-from screening to survivorship-to provide your patients with the most individualized care possible.
Gastrointestinal Cancers include anal cancer, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, hepatobiliary cancer, and pancreatic cancer.
If one of your patients is experiencing any of these symptoms, please refer them to one of our Genitourinary Cancer specialists.
Anal Cancer treatment plans will vary depending on multiple factors including, but not limited to, the stage of diagnosis, as well as the location of the cancer.
This surgical procedure removes part of the colon, rectum and anus and a colostomy (plastic bag outside the body) is attached to an opening in the abdomen for body waste evacuation.
Your patient may benefit from a clinical trial. Find a clinical trial.
A single or combination of powerful drugs are administered to kill the cancer cells either intravenous (IV) or in orally in a pill or liquid form.
For smaller anal tumors that have not spread to the lymph nodes or surrounding tissue, only the tumor and a small margin around the tumor is removed .
High powered beams (x-rays and protons) are directed to the anal/rectum area to destroy the cancer cells.
Specific genes or proteins in the cancer cells are targeted with a drug(s) to stop your cancer from growing and spreading.
Click here if you would like to refer a patient.
Refer a Patient
Our patients have advanced access to the therapies of tomorrow – today.
See Clinical Trials
Colorectal Cancer originates in the inner lining of the colon and/or rectum and usually starts as a polyp, or growth of tissue, which can be noncancerous. These polyps can become cancerous if not removed. If the cancer begins in the rectum, the part of the lower gastrointestinal system where waste is passed from the body, it is referred to as rectal cancer. Likewise, if the colon, the first four to five feet of the large intestine, is the initial site, it is called colon cancer.
If one of your patients is experiencing any of these symptoms, please refer them to one of our Gastrointestinal specialists.
Colorectal Cancer treatment plans will vary depending on multiple factors including, but not limited to, the stage of diagnosis, as well as the location of the cancer.
Uses powerful drugs specifically designed to destroy the cancer cells that are dividing rapidly. These drugs may be given before or during radiation to improve your outcome and care.
A clinical trial may be a treatment option for your patient. Find a clinical trial.
An instrument is inserted through the abdomen freeze and destroy abnormal tissue.
Based on specific tissue test, you patient may benefit from immunotherapy with antibodies.
If cancer is found at a very early stage, our surgeon can cut out the cancerous tissue without cutting through the abdominal wall using a tube inserted through the rectum.
If our surgeon cannot reconnect the healthy portions of the colon or rectum, an opening in the wall of the abdomen will be attached for elimination of stool.
Our surgeon will remove only the part of the colon and/or rectum that contains the cancer with a small margin of healthy tissue and reconnect the healthy portions.
The tissue or polyp is excised through a tube inserted through the rectum into the colon.
Several radiation therapies are used to treat Colorectal Cancer; intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), where precise radiation doses that utilize computer-controlled x-ray accelerators target a malignant tumor and external beam therapy (EBT), where a beam of high-energy x-rays or proton beams-generated outside the body- target the tumor site.
A special probe with tiny electrodes is inserted either through the skin or through an incision in your abdomen to destroy the cancer cells.
A new form of chemotherapy, allow our doctors to create personalized treatments to target specific genetic differences by using Genomic testing.
Click here if you would like to refer a patient.
Refer a Patient
Our patients have advanced access to the therapies of tomorrow – today.
See Clinical Trials
Esophageal Cancer develops in the lining of the esophagus, a hollow tube that carries liquids and food from the mouth to the stomach, and usually starts in the innermost layer.
This is the most common form of esophageal cancer which starts off in the glandular cells, mainly at the lower end of the esophagus and upper region of the stomach. While most prevalent in overweight, middle-aged white men, this cancer has been on the increase in recent years due to the increase in people with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
The thin, flat cells that line the inside of the esophagus (squamous cells) is where this form of esophageal cancer originates and it is strongly linked to drinking too much alcohol and smoking.
This rare form of esophageal cancer begin in the cells that release hormones into the bloodstream in response to signal waves (neuroendocrine cells).
If one of your patients is experiencing any of these symptoms, please refer to: (link patient referral portal)
A patient with prostate cancer symptoms may have one or more of the following procedures to determine the correct diagnosis:
Esophageal Cancer treatment plans will vary depending on multiple factors, including but not limited, to the stage and location of the cancer.
Powerful drugs are specifically designed to destroy the cancer cells that are dividing rapidly. These drugs may be given before or during radiation to improve outcome and care.
A clinical trial may be treatment option for your patient. Find a clinical Trial.
This surgical procedure removes the section of the esophagus with cancer plus a small margin of healthy tissue and nearby lymph nodes and the stomach is re-attached to the remaining esophagus. Sometimes part of the stomach that contains cancer is removed (subtotal gastrectomy) or the entire stomach, lymph nodes, small intestine and surrounding tissue (total gastrectomy).
High powered beams (x-rays and protons) are directed to the cancerous tissue to destroy the cancer cells.
Targeted therapies, a new form of chemotherapy, allow our doctors to create personalized treatments to target specific genetic differences by using Genomic testing.
Click here if you would like to refer a patient.
Refer a Patient
Our patients have advanced access to the therapies of tomorrow – today.
See Clinical Trials
Hepatobiliary Cancers are cancers that attack the hepatobiliary system that includes the liver, gallbladder and bile ducts.
If one of your patients is experiencing any of these symptoms, please refer to one of our Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer specialist.
Hepatobiliary Cancer treatment plans will vary depending on multiple factors including, but not limited to, the stage of diagnosis, as well as the location of the cancer.
An open surgical approach removes the bile duct and regional lymph nodes.
This minimally invasive approach creates a new pathway around the tumors that are blocking the flow of bile by connecting the gallbladder or bile duct directly to the small intestine.
A new chemotherapy technique called HAI is a treatment of your gallbladder and bile duct cancer that been shown to extend survival in patients with liver cancer and involves delivering a high dose of chemotherapy drugs directly to the liver through a tiny pump implanted under the skin in the lower abdomen. Additional chemotherapy medicine is injected into the pump, as needed, on an outpatient basis. HAI therapy may be used to shrink tumors before surgery or, after surgery, to prevent recurrence.
A procedure where the gallbladder, lymph nodes, a margin of surrounding tissue and possibly part of the liver are surgically removed.
A probe that contains liquid nitrogen can be inserted into the liver tumors with ultrasound guidance and destroyed with extreme cold.
This is an option for a small percentage of people with early-stage liver cancer where your diseased liver is replaced with a healthy donor liver.
When large bile duct tumors are found inside the liver (intrahepatic peripheral tumors), a portion of the liver and margin of healthy tissue is surgically removed.
To relieve debilitating pain if the disease is too advanced for surgery, a local anesthetic can be injected into the celiac plexus (a cluster of nerves near the liver) to block pain signals. This procedure can be performed through the skin with x-ray guidance, laparoscopically or with endoscopic ultrasound(EUS) guidance through the mouth and into the stomach.
Radiation may be administered alone or in combination with chemotherapy or other treatments.
With ultrasound or CT guidance, electric current is used to heat and destroy the cancer cells.
A small drainage tube (stent) is inserted to relieve a blocked bile duct and allows bile to flow across the blockage to the small intestine. The stent can either be placed through an endoscope (a thin, tube-like instrument inserted through the mouth) or percutaneously (with a needle) through the liver
If the bile duct tumor is outside the liver (extrahepatic), the gallbladder, part of the stomach, part of the small intestine, the bile ducts and the right section of the pancreas is surgically removed.
Click here if you would like to refer a patient.
Refer a Patient
Our patients have advanced access to the therapies of tomorrow – today.
See Clinical Trials
Pancreatic cancer starts when cells in the pancreas start to grow out of control. The pancreas is an organ that sits behind the stomach. It’s shaped a bit like a fish with a wide head, a tapering body, and a narrow, pointed tail. In adults it’s about 6 inches long but less than 2 inches wide. The head of the pancreas is on the right side of the abdomen (belly), behind where the stomach meets the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). The body of the pancreas is behind the stomach, and the tail of the pancreas is on the left side of the abdomen next to the spleen.
If one of your patients is experiencing any of these symptoms, please refer to one of our Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer specialist.
Pancreatic Cancer treatment plans will vary depending on multiple factors including, but not limited to, the stage of diagnosis, as well as the location of the cancer.
Sometimes just the middle of the pancreas is removed, usually for benign (noncancerous) tumors and the remaining pancreas is attached to the stomach or intestine.
Uses powerful drugs specifically designed to destroy the pancreatic cancer cells that are dividing rapidly. These drugs may be given before or during radiation to improve outcome and care.
Your patient may benefit from a clinical trial. Find a clinical Trial.
If the tumors are confined to the tail (left portion) of the pancreas our surgeons will remove the tail and sometimes part of the body of the pancreas and the spleen. This surgery can be done with an open surgical technique, laparoscopically or robotic-assisted.
High energy x-rays are used to destroy the pancreatic cancer cells. The type of treatment, dose and frequency are determined by our radiation oncologist.
If diagnostic tests show that the cancer has spread throughout the pancreas, our surgeons may recommend a total removal of the pancreas, involving removal of the gallbladder, part of the stomach, part of the small intestine, the lower half of the bile duct, the spleen, and nearby lymph nodes.
If the bile duct tumor is outside the liver (extrahepatic), the gallbladder, part of the stomach, part of the small intestine, the bile ducts and the right section of the pancreas is surgically removed.
Click here if you would like to refer a patient.
Refer a Patient
Our patients have advanced access to the therapies of tomorrow – today.
See Clinical Trials
Learn more about how to schedule an appointment or refer a patient to our oncology specialists here at West Cancer Center.
