Gastrointestinal Surgery
Surgery is a common treatment for cancers of the gastrointestinal (GI) system, the group of organs that ingest and digest food and eliminate waste. The GI system includes the esophagus, stomach, intestines, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, colon and rectum.
Types of Gastrointestinal Surgery
The type and extent of gastrointestinal surgery depends on the size and location of your cancer.
Surgery may be used as the only treatment or in combination with other treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Your surgical oncologist works closely with your medical oncologist and radiation oncologist to determine the best treatment protocol.
Your surgical oncologist may remove part of the organ or the entire organ. Sometimes it is necessary to also remove surrounding organs and tissue. After your cancer is removed, your surgeon reconstructs the healthy parts of the organs so that the gastrointestinal system functions as normally as possible.
Stomach Cancer
Stomach cancer may be treated with a surgical procedure called a gastrectomy. If part of the stomach is removed (partial gastrectomy), your surgeon connects the remaining part of stomach to the esophagus and the small intestine. If the entire stomach is removed (total gastrectomy), your surgeon connects the esophagus to the small intestine.
Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer may be treated with a whipple procedure to remove the head of the pancreas, the first part of the small intestine, gallbladder and bile duct and sometimes part of the stomach. A distal pancreatectomy removes the body and tail of the pancreas and the spleen.
Your surgeon may remove the entire pancreas, involves removing the entire pancreas, as well as part of the small intestine, a portion of the stomach, the common bile duct, the gall bladder, the spleen and nearby lymph nodes. This is called a total pancreatectomy.
Gallbladder Cancer
Early stages of gallbladder cancer and/or cancers of the bile ducts are often treated surgically. The surgeon will remove the gallbladder and the attached bile ducts and reconstruct the biliary tree using parts of the small intestine.
Colorectal Cancer
Treatment of colorectal cancer often requires removal of a segment of the colon or rectum and reconnection of the two remaining ends. On occasion, a colostomy may be required to create a new path for waste products to leave the body. In this procedure, your surgeon makes an opening (stoma) in the abdomen, connects the intestine to the opening, and fits a bag over the opening to collect waste. A colostomy may be temporary or permanent.
Esophageal Cancer
An esophagectomy may be used to remove all or part of the esophagus to treat esophageal cancer. Most often, the surgeon will connect the remaining esophagus to the stomach. In rare situations, the small intestine or colon may be used as an alternative to the stomach.
Liver Cancer
Surgery to remove parts of the liver is called a hepatectomy. As much as 80 percent of the liver may be removed if the remaining liver tissue is healthy. The remaining healthy tissue keeps the liver functioning normally. The size and location of tumors as well as the number of tumors in the liver will help your doctor determine the appropriate treatment.
Radiofrequency ablation is a treatment option if and when hepatectomy is not appropriate. Your surgical oncologist inserts a small probe through an incision in your abdomen into the liver tumors under ultrasound guidance. The probe delivers high temperatures to the tumor, killing cancer cells with extensive heat. Cancer Care Northwest has special expertise in this area.
Heated Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC)
Cancer Care Northwest is the only treatment center in the Inland Northwest that offers Heated Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC), an innovative chemotherapy procedure performed during surgery to treat certain advanced abdominal cancers.
Cancer Care Northwest’s Dr. Ryan Holbrook, surgical oncologist, is recognized throughout the nation for his expertise in HIPEC. He has used the procedure to treat more than 100 patients over the past 12 years.
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