”Primary Neoplasms of the Small Bowel. The Clinico-Diagnostic and Surgical Therapy Considerations: The Clinical Cases and a Retrospective Study of Your Experience”

Introduction: Primary tumors of the small bowel is a rare and constitute about 2% of gastrointestinal neoplasms. Purpose: The authors reviewed our surgical experience of 20 patients treated at the Surgical Clinic of the Università degli Studi di Trieste, of Trieste during a 5 years period from January 2000 to December 2005. In the current study, the records of 20 patients with small bowel carcinoma were reviewed retrospectively for the presentation, treatment modalities, and outcome.Materials and Methods: There were 20 patients: 6 (30%) men and 14 (70%) women an the median age of the patients was 70.2 years (range, 43–87). Tumors originated in the ileum in 12 (60%) patients, the duodenum in 5 (25%) patients, the jejunum in 2 (10%) patients, and in the Meckel diverticulum in 1 (5%) patient. Results: Adenocarcinoma was the most common (30%) followed by carcinoid (25%), lymphoma (20%), neuroendocrine tumors (15%) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) (10%). The distribution of the malignancies showed preponderance in the ileum (60%), in the duodenum (25%), in the jejunum (10%) and in the Meckel diverticulum (5%). The most common presentation was weight loss (45%) followed by abdominal pain (40%), obstruction (40%), anemia and gastrointestinal bleeding (30%). A correct preoperative diagnosis was made in only 35% of the patients. All the 20 tumors were resected: in 17 patients (85%) the resection were considered as curative. Survival analysis was by the Kaplan–Meier method. The median overall survival rate was 50%. Conclusions: Performing an oncologic surgery resulted in(truncated at 250 words).