Gastrointestinal cancer
A diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancer is unsettling news for anyone. Be assured that your multidisciplinary care team at UCHealth understands your fears and will develop a customized treatment plan to help you fight it.
A multidisciplinary team to treat multiple cancer types
At UCHealth cancer facilities, our treatment teams provide advanced care for anyone diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer. We’re recognized as a center for developing and setting new standards in the treatment of gastrointestinal and related cancers.
UCHealth specializes in a wide variety of cancers of the digestive system, including:
- Anal cancer
- Colorectal cancer
- Esophageal cancer
- Extrahepatic bile duct cancer
- Gastrointestinal tumors (carcinoid, stromal)
- Liver cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Small intestine cancer
- Stomach cancer
Advanced treatment, caring approach
At UCHealth, the same caring team of doctors and support professionals from many fields – including our elite, Magnet-designated nursing staff – collaborate to develop the best plan of care for you, and they stay with you from your initial appointment through treatment and aftercare.
You receive doctor-managed care that emphasizes wellness and healing for you as a whole person. Our special GI nurse navigator helps guide you through the entire process. Your core team members may include:
- Medical oncologists
- Radiation oncologists
- Surgical oncologists
Additional UCHealth medical professionals who contribute their expertise to your care may include:
- Gastroenterologists
- Liver transplant specialists
- Pathologists
- Radiologists
- Nurse practitioners
- Oncology social workers
- Integrative medicine and complementary care therapists
Clinical trials
Your medical team may also recommend participation in a clinical trial. We conduct hundreds of these trials of new treatments or drugs through our UCHealth/University of Colorado Cancer Center.
Participation in a clinical trial may provide those who qualify with access to drugs and vaccines years before they are widely available.
Five-year small intestine cancer survival rates
Number of Patients Diagnosed – UCHealth 95 – State of Colorado – 445
Number of Patients Surviving – UCHealth 66 – State of Colorado – 283
*n<30, 5 Year Survival – (Date of diagnosis 1/1/2010–12/31/2014)
References
National Cancer Institute (NCI). Gastric Cancer Treatment (https://www.cancer.gov/types/stomach/patient/stomach-treatment-pdq)
American College of Gastroenterology. Gastrointestinal Cancers (https://gi.org/topics/gastrointestinal-cancers/)
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI): National Library of Medicine. Global Burden of 5 Major Types Of Gastrointestinal Cancer (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8630546/)