Stomach Cancer: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment

July 8, 2022

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Stomach cancer arises when malignant cells develop within the stomach lining. It can be difficult to identify because most people do not exhibit symptoms in the early stages. As a result, it frequently goes undetected until it has spread to other body parts.

Although stomach cancer can be difficult to identify and treat, it is critical to have the information you need to manage it.

The causes of stomach cancer

The stomach (along with the oesophagus) is only one element of your digestive tract’s top region. Your stomach is responsible for digesting food and transporting nutrients to the remainder of your digestive organs, specifically the small and large intestines.

Stomach cancer usually develops when healthy cells in the upper digestive tract become malignant and expand out of control, resulting in the formation of a tumour. This process is typically slow. As a result, stomach cancer usually develops over time.

Symptoms of stomach cancer

Typically, there are no early indications or symptoms of stomach cancer. As a result, many people are unaware that something is wrong until cancer has progressed to an advanced stage.

There may be illness signs in some circumstances. The following are some of the most prevalent symptoms of stomach cancer:

Frequently occurring heartburn
Appetite loss
Bloating all the time
Frequent indigestion and burping
Early satiation
Excessive tiredness
Constant abdominal discomfort

Since many of these symptoms are common in other conditions, such as an ulcer or an infection, it makes stomach cancer difficult to diagnose. If you have possible symptoms of stomach cancer that don’t get better, it’s important to see a doctor.

The process through which cancer spreads is known as metastasis. Symptoms of advanced or metastatic stomach cancer may include:

Blood in stools
Nausea and vomiting
A bulge on top of the stomach
Jaundice (if cancer reaches the liver)
Sudden weight loss

Stomach cancer symptoms in women are comparable to those in males; however, men are more likely to develop the disease. Children’s symptoms may include constipation or diarrhoea but are the same as adults’.

Risk factors of a stomach cancer

Several factors may raise your chances of having malignant cells in your stomach. Certain diseases and ailments, for example, are risk factors. Some of them include:

Bacterial infections caused by H. pylori (a common stomach infection that can sometimes lead to ulcers)
Stomach polyps tumours in other regions of the digestive system (abnormal growths of tissue that form on the lining of the stomach)
Lynch syndrome and Li-Fraumeni syndrome are examples of inherited genetic syndromes.

Stomach cancer also is more common in,

People in their 60’s or above.
Men
People who smoke regularly
People with obesity
People with a medical history
People of Asian (particularly Korean or Japanese), South American, or Eastern European ancestry.

While your personal medical history may influence your risk of developing stomach cancer, certain lifestyle variables may also be influential; if you:

Consume an abundance of salty or processed meals
Eat meat regularly
Consume a lot of alcohol
Don’t get enough exercise
Smoke regularly
Don’t properly store or cook food

Suppose you suspect you are at risk of developing stomach cancer. In that case, you should consider undergoing a screening test when persons are at risk of certain diseases but do not yet exhibit symptoms.

Diagnosing stomach cancer

Since people with stomach cancer rarely exhibit symptoms in the early stages, the disease is frequently misdiagnosed until it is advanced.

A physical exam is performed to diagnose stomach cancer and look for anomalies. A doctor may also examine for probable stomach bleeding by utilising a stool blood test in conjunction with a blood test to screen for anaemia.

If your doctor suspects you have stomach cancer, additional diagnostic testing may be required. Specifically, diagnostic tests seek suspected cancers and other abnormalities in the stomach and oesophagus. A few of these tests include:

Biopsy
An upper gastrointestinal endoscopy
CT scans and X-rays

Stages of stomach cancer

The stage of stomach cancer reveals the extent to which cancer has progressed throughout the body. The TNM system developed by the American Joint Committee on Cancer is commonly used to diagnose the stage of stomach cancer. The system considers three factors:

T category: The tumour’s size and how far it extends
N category: The extent to which the malignancy has migrated into the lymph nodes.
M category: Whether or not cancer has spread to other body parts.

The results from each category are pooled to assign a stage from 0 to 4. A lower score indicates that the cancer is in an earlier stage. While tumour growth and dissemination vary, each stage generally looks like this:

Stage 0: Only the surface of the stomach lining has abnormal or malignant cells, but cancer has not progressed to the lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Stage 1: The tumour has spread into the stomach’s deeper layers. Cancer could have expanded to one or two of the lymph nodes surrounding the stomach, but it has not moved to other body regions.
Stage 2: Cancer has spread to the lymph nodes and reached more profound stomach layers. It hasn’t spread to the rest of my body.
Stage 3: The tumour has spread deeper into the stomach layers and probably into neighbouring organs. Cancer has most certainly migrated to the lymph nodes but has not moved to other body parts.
Stage 4: Cancer may have spread to deeper stomach layers or surrounding lymph nodes at this stage, but this is not required. Cancer has spread to distant body regions at this stage, such as the lungs, brain, or liver.

It will be between stages 0 and 3 as long as the cancer has not spread to other body parts. If it has progressed to other places, it will be diagnosed as stage 4 stomach cancer.

Treatments and predicted survival rates change according to the stage. Early-For example, early-stage stomach cancer has a 69.9% of surviving 5 years following diagnosis. However, the 5-year survival rate for advanced cancer that has spread to distant parts of the body declines to 5.5 per cent.

Treatment

Stomach cancer, in general, is treated with one or more of the following:

Chemotherapy
Radiation Therapy
Surgery
Immunotherapy

Your specific treatment plan will be determined by the cause and stage of your cancer. Other factors can be age and your health on the whole too.

The purpose of treating cancer cells in the stomach is to prevent the cells from spreading. If left untreated, stomach cancer can progress to the following:

Lungs
Lymph nodes
Bones
Liver

Prevention

Stomach cancer can’t be prevented as a whole. Although the risk of developing all cancers can be reduced by:

Maintaining a moderate weight
Consuming a balanced diet
Limiting your alcohol intake
Avoiding smoking
Regularly exercising

In some circumstances, doctors may recommend drugs to help reduce the chance of stomach cancer. This is typically done for patients with a precancerous condition or other conditions that benefit from the medicine. You should also think about taking an early screening test. This test can aid in the detection of stomach cancer.