Why Choose Us: The GI Cancer Prevention Program at Stanford Health Care

Our Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer Prevention Program offers advanced risk assessment and gastrointestinal cancer screening options. We use the latest techniques for routine to complex screening and removal of precancerous growths.

The goal of risk assessment is to determine your level of risk for cancer, and to recommend risk management options. Whether you have a family history or do not know your risk, we offer the full range of care options.

The goal of gastrointestinal cancer screening is to detect and remove precancerous growths, and to detect cancer in its earliest stages, when it is most treatable. 

Highlights of our program include:

• Highly trained specialists: Our team includes gastroenterologists, endoscopists, genetics professionals, and cancer specialists with extensive experience in risk assessment, screening, and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.
• Treatment expertise: Treatments for simple and highly complex gastrointestinal conditions are available at Stanford. Our specialists also offer minimally invasive procedures using endoscopes, flexible tubes with a light and camera attached.
  
• Pioneering efforts: Research at Stanford has led to advances in detecting precancerous conditions, such as using confocal endomicroscopy for esophageal cancer. We have also earned a national reputation for our expertise in minimally invasive treatments, including radiofrequency ablation for Barrett's esophagus.
• Advanced screening tests: We make it easy for you to get the care you need by offering same-day virtual colonoscopy to individuals who are not able to complete a standard colonoscopy test.
• Seamless care: We work closely with your primary care doctor and other Stanford Health Care programs, including the Cancer Genetics Program, Interventional Radiology, and the Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer Program, to coordinate your care.

In addition to screening tests, we provide:

• Comprehensive gastrointestinal cancer risk assessments, including genetic counseling and testing, if necessary
• Precancerous growth removal, including the removal of colon polyps and treatment of Barrett's esophagus with precancerous tissue (dysplasia)
• Surveillance, including ongoing care and monitoring, if screening tests show you have a higher-than-normal cancer risk, such as a history of high-risk colon polyps