Abdominal Key

Humans are host to complex microbial communities previously termed normal flora and largely overlooked. However, resident microbes contribute to both health and disease. Investigators are beginning to define microbes that…

Emerging molecular tools promise to extend the diagnostic reach of the endoscopist and open doors to population screening for gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. This review briefly addresses biological considerations in marker…

Although almost all gastrointestinal cancers develop from sporadic genomic events, approximately 5% arise from germline mutations in genes associated with cancer predisposition. The number of these genes continues to increase….

Neuroendocrine tumors are increasingly diagnosed, either incidentally as part of screening processes, or for symptoms, which have commonly been mistaken for other disorders initially. The diagnostic workup to characterize tumor…

The first 15 years of management of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) have led to 3 lines of therapy for metastatic disease: imatinib, sunitinib, and regorafenib. In the adjuvant setting, imatinib is…

Cancer is fundamentally a genetic disease caused by mutational or epigenetic alterations in DNA. There has been a remarkable expansion of the molecular understanding of colonic carcinogenesis in the last…

Small bowel adenocarcinomas (SBAs) are rare tumors, but their incidence is increasing. The most common primary location is the duodenum. Even though SBAs are more often sporadic, some diseases are…

Pancreatic cancer is now the third leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States, yet advances in treatment options have been minimal over the past decade. In this…

Esophageal cancer carries a poor prognosis among gastrointestinal malignancies. Although esophageal squamous cell carcinoma predominates worldwide, Western nations have seen a marked rise in the incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma that…