TriangleFOR PATIENTS · SOURCE READING
Surgery
Source: Small Intestine Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version, National Cancer Institute.
Source updated: May 17, 2023 · Captured 2026-09-09.
Selected source text with whitespace normalised. This Triangle page is not an NCI PDQ summary. Independent clinical review is pending.
Context: Treatment Option Overview / The following types of treatment are used:
Surgery is the most common treatment of small intestine cancer. One of the following types of surgery may be done:
Source links and citations
Resection: Surgery to remove part or all of an organ that contains cancer. The resection may include the small intestine and nearby organs (if the cancer has spread). The doctor may remove the section of the small intestine that contains cancer and perform an anastomosis (joining the cut ends of the intestine together). The doctor will usually remove lymph nodes near the small intestine and examine them under a microscope to see whether they contain cancer.
Source links and citations
Bypass: Surgery to allow food in the small intestine to go around (bypass) a tumor that is blocking the intestine but cannot be removed.
After the doctor removes all the cancer that can be seen at the time of the surgery, some patients may be given radiation therapy after surgery to kill any cancer cells that are left. Treatment given after the surgery, to lower the risk that the cancer will come back, is called adjuvant therapy.
Source links and citations
Preserved source evidence · Independent clinical review pending · Not medical advice