extragastrointestinal

Extragastrointestinal is a medical term used to describe anything located outside or arising outside the gastrointestinal tract. The gastrointestinal tract typically refers to the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine, along with associated structures involved in digestion and absorption. Extragastrointestinal is used to distinguish processes, diseases, or lesions that occur beyond these luminal organs from those that originate within the GI tract.

The term appears in several medical disciplines, including surgery, oncology, pathology, radiology, and gastroenterology. It helps clinicians categorize conditions such as extragastrointestinal tumors, extragastrointestinal bleeding, and extragastrointestinal manifestations of diseases primarily associated with the GI tract. It is also used to describe tumors that arise outside the GI tract but resemble gastrointestinal stromal tumors histologically, known as extragastrointestinal stromal tumors (EGISTs), which may be found in the mesentery, omentum, retroperitoneum, or other sites.

Common contexts include:

- Extragastrointestinal bleeding, referring to hemorrhage from sources outside the GI lumen.

- Extragastrointestinal tumors or lesions, including mesenteric or retroperitoneal tumors that are not part of the GI tract proper.

- Extragastrointestinal manifestations of GI diseases, such as joint or skin involvement in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Etymology derives from ex- (outside) + gastr/o (stomach) + -intestinal, signifying components or processes beyond the GI tract. See also gastrointestinal and intragastric terms for contrast.