Surgical treatment of small bowel neoplasms

Small intestinal neoplasms are uncommon cancers. Benign small intestinal tu - mors (e.g., leiomyoma, lipoma, hamartoma, or desmoid tumor) usually are asymptomatic but may present with complications. Primary malig - nancies of the small intestine, including adeno - carcinoma, leiomyosarcoma, carcinoid, and lym - phoma, are often symptomatic and may present with intestinal obstruction, jaundice, bleeding, or pain. Metastatic neoplasms may involve the small intestine via contiguous spread, peritoneal metastases or hematogenous metastases. Be - cause the small intestine is relatively inaccessi - ble to routine endoscopy, diagnosis of small in - testinal neoplasms is often delayed for months after onset of symptoms. During last years the increase of small bowel endoscopy and other di - agnostic tools allow earlier non-operative diag - nosis. Even though radical resection of small bowel cancer plays an important role, the 5yr overall survival remains low.