Premalignant Lesions of the Small Intestine

Tumors of the small intestine are rare and generally asymptomatic or with nonspecific symp-toms. The small intestine is difficult to approach using conventional endoscopy, and early diagnosis of the small intestinal tumors is difficult. Therefore, many of the small intestinal tumors are diagnosed at an advanced stage, which makes the prognosis poor. Premalignant lesions of the small intestine or known risk factors of small bowel cancer are sporadic adenoma, adenoma associated with familial adenomatous polyposis, hamartomatous polyp associated with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, Crohn’s disease, and celiac disease. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize that the small bowel cancer can occur in these patients with premalignant lesions or risk factors of small bowel cancer. To reduce the possibility of small bowel cancer or to detect at an earlier stage, attention should be paid to screening and surveillance of these patients with premalignant lesions or risk factors of the small bowel cancer.