ABSTRACT
The number of patients surviving a long time after the diagnosis of a non-curable digestive cancer is continuously increasing. Most of these patients need to be supported by further treatments aiming to improve the quality of life. It is extremely important to identify the borders between curable and non-curable cancers through accurate staging procedures. Cancer of the alimentary tract growing inside the digestive tube and bleeding from ulcerations causes obstructive symptoms, associated hemorrhage, and consequent anemia. The classical option to overcome both obstruction and bleeding in the digestive tube is resective surgery with end-to-end anastomosis. Esophagogastrointestinal symptoms may be produced by digestive or by extradigestive tumors. Malignant dysphagia can be related to the presence of primary or secondary esophageal tumors, or it can be consequent to esophagitis after a surgical treatment or a radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Endoscopic treatment can be beneficial for bleeding and vomiting from gastric or extra-gastric tumors infiltrate the gastric wall.
