Gastrointestinal Malignancies Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers are common diseases
worldwide. About 400,000 patients are diagnosed with esophageal cancer worldwide
each year and nearly 330,000 die for this disease. Roughly 870,000 patients are
newly diagnosed each year with gastric cancer and over 600,000 die from the
disease each year. And 940,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed
annually and 490,000 patients die from this disease.
Management options for patients with GI cancer have undergone dramatic changes
in the past decade. New cytotoxic agents, novel targeted agents, surgical and
ablative options, as well as a new array of supportative medications have shown
substantial progress. With the increased number of