title: [Organization of diagnosis, treatment, and further measures for patients with gastrointestinal cancer (author's transl)].
abstract: One third of the total surgical care at the Department of Surgery, University of Lund, Sweden, is for cancer patients. Gastrointestinal cancer occupies 9,000 of a total of 12,000 bed-days and this disease is usually handled by the team who cares for the specific organ in which the cancer is localized. A particularly important part of gastrointestinal care is endoscopy (gastroscopy and colo-sigmoideo-rectoscopy). These diagnostic procedures can sometimes be curative. The value of preoperative liver tests for diagnosing liver metastases in colorectal cancer is very low because of the low prevalence of liver metastases in this population. Palliative therapeutical procedures, such as Celestin-tubes for esophageal or cardia carcinoma and transhepatic endoprostheses for bile duct occlusive cancer, have been tested. Palliative cytostatic therapy is partly established, i.e., intraarterial infusion of 5-FU for recurrent rectal carcinoma in the lower pelvis. This type of treatment has a very good pain relief effect. Cytostatic therapy for tumour control in patients without symptoms e.g. primary or secondary liver carcinomas, has not yet been established. Most of the patients with cytostatic therapy are treated on an outpatient basis. The cytostatic therapist must always be properly protected when working with cytostatic drugs. It is very important that the patient who gets cytostatic therapy is followed in order to see if the drug has any growth-controlling effect. A cost-benefit analysis of the therapy should also be made.
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007261:Infusions, Intra-Arterial; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011379:Prognosis; D013548:Sweden
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D005472:Fluorouracil
vernacular_title: Organisation zur Untersuchung, Behandlung und weiteren Betreuung von Patienten mit gastrointestinalem Karzinom.