How To Lower Your Risk
As a society, we eat a lot of processed and unhealthy foods that cause these benign symptoms that we have. We really need to shift back to a cleaner, mostly plant-based diet, says Dr. El-Hayek. Theres no doubt that the data supports a diet thats rich in fresh vegetables, minimal fruit and minimal meat, especially processed meat. Avoiding these toxic foods will not only decrease a persons risk for cancer development, but also the digestive symptoms from eating them.
What Kind Of Doctor Treats Stomach Cancer
There is a team of specialists that cares for people with stomach cancer:
- Gastroenterologist: a doctor who specializes in the stomach and intestines
- Surgical oncologist: a doctor who surgically removes cancer tumors and cancerous cells
- Medical oncologist: a doctor who treats cancer with oral or systemic medication
- Radiation oncologist: a doctor who specializes in treating cancer with radiation therapy
- Pathologist: a doctor who evaluates cells, tissues and organs and performs other laboratory tests to diagnose disease
- Radiologist: a doctor who uses imaging tests to diagnose disease
Depending on your condition and where you are in your treatment, you may meet with any one of these specialists at a given time.
What Are The Different Stages Of Stomach Cancer
Stomach cancer is staged based on the severity of cancerous cell growth and spread. Adenocarcinoma is initially evaluated by the tumor, node metastasis system.
- T: How deeply has the tumor spread into the stomach wall?
- N: Has the stomach cancer spread to the lymph nodes?
- M: Has the stomach cancer spread to other parts of the body?
After the TNM staging information has been taken into account, the cancer is staged at 0 or 1 to 4. Tumor classifications for staging are as follows:
- Stage 0 is early cancer on the surface of the stomach lining.
- Stage 1A or 1B
- Stage 2A or 2B, commonly with deeper stomach wall involved
- Stage 3A or 3B or 3C, commonly with lymph node involvement
- Stage 4 means cancer has metastasized elsewhere in the body outside of the stomach.
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/6the Science Behind Waning Immunity
Currently, scientists and medical professionals are uncertain as to how long protection from a natural infection or vaccine immunity lasts. While the duration of natural immunity is not exactly known, Dr. Goel suggests it could last from 3 to 12 months.
He is of the opinion that the Immunity gradually wanes over a period of time due to fall in the levels of protective antibodies and T cells.
After an infection or vaccination, your body builds a strong immune response and fights against possible future infections with the help of antibodies. However, when your body does not come in contact with the viral pathogen for a long period of time, the production of antibodies slows down, the cells and proteins gradually diminish causing your immunity to start to wane.
Additionally, according to Dr. Aravinda, the major reason behind diminishing immunity is the emergence of different COVID variants.
“Even if one develops immunity against one variant it does not mean that they have developed immunity against all of them. The body is continuously evolving and adapting to the environment. When one takes a vaccine, the body remembers the behavior pattern of that virus and is prepared to fight it this is called immunologic memory. Over time this will gradually decline,” he says.
/6when Is One Most Prone To Covid Reinfection
COVID-appropriate behaviour plays a key role in determining who is more or less protected from the virus.
“A person who is not following Covid protective behaviour, those who have deferred vaccination and immunocompromised people consisting of old age, diabetes patients, heart, lung disease and cancer patients are more prone to COVID-19 re-infection,” says Dr Goel.
Dr Aravinda is of the same opinion and says that when strict guidelines are in place and people are being cautious, the spread of virus declines. “One is most prone to severe Covid infection if they have comorbidities or other underlying health issues that they are not aware of. One is prone to Covid infection if they do not follow safety protocols,” he says.
According to him, “It depends on the variant too the Omicron variant was found to be highly infectious. We advise people to stay cautious and follow safety protocols.”
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Side Effects Of Stomach Cancer Treatments
All cancer treatments can have side effects. Your treatment team will discuss these with you before you start treatment. Talk to your doctor or nurse about any side effects you are experiencing.
Some side effects can be upsetting and difficult, but there is help if you need it. Call Cancer Council Victoria Tel. or email to speak with a caring cancer nurse for support.
Treatment Of Advanced Cancer
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. Several drugs are combined and given in a specific order on specific days as cycles.
Adjuvant chemo – In patients with localized stomach cancer, chemotherapy is usually given after surgery to kill the cells which could remain. The decision to give chemotherapy depends on the surgical stage. It is usually administered if cancer has spread to lymph nodes or penetrated outer layers of the stomach. In this way, chemotherapy helps reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and death from cancer.
Neoadjuvant chemo – If the tumour has excessively grown, then chemotherapy is administered before surgery. It will shrink cancer and produce a better result from an operation later.
Palliative chemo – In metastatic cancers, chemotherapy prolongs survival and improves the quality of life.
Targeted therapy
Substances which identify and attack cancer cells without harming normal cells. Targeted therapy for stomach cancer includes HER2-targeted therapy and Anti-angiogenesis therapy.
Immunotherapy
It uses the patient’s immune system to fight cancer. Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy is a type of immunotherapy.
Radiation therapy
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Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer
This inherited syndrome greatly increases the risk of developing stomach cancer. This condition is rare, but the lifetime stomach cancer risk among affected people is up to 70%. Women with this syndrome also have an increased risk of invasive lobular breast cancer. This syndrome is most often caused by mutations in the CDH1 gene.
How Can My Doctor Tell If I Have Stomach Cancer
You won’t know you have stomach cancer for sure until after your doctor examines your stomach. Sometimes cancer can be in the stomach for a long time and grow very large before it causes symptoms. In the early stages of stomach cancer, you may have these symptoms:
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Indigestion, stomach discomfort, or heartburn
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A bloated feeling after eating
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Nausea or loss of appetite
When the cancer is larger, you may have these symptoms:
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Blood in your stool
If you have any of these signs or symptoms, talk with your doctor.
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How Is It Diagnosed
Since people with stomach cancer rarely show symptoms in the early stages, the disease is often not diagnosed until its more advanced.
To make a diagnosis, your doctor will first perform a physical exam to check for any abnormalities. They may also order a blood test, including a test for the presence of H. pylori bacteria.
More diagnostic tests will need to be done if your doctor believes that you show signs of stomach cancer. Diagnostic tests specifically look for suspected tumors and other abnormalities in the stomach and esophagus. These tests may include:
- an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy
NCI , around 30 percent of all people with stomach cancer survive at least five years after being diagnosed.
The majority of these survivors have a localized diagnosis. This means that the stomach was the original source of the cancer. When the origin is unknown, it can be difficult to diagnose and stage the cancer. This makes the cancer harder to treat.
Its also more difficult to treat stomach cancer once it reaches the later stages. If your cancer is more advanced, you may want to consider participating in a clinical trial.
Clinical trials help determine whether a new medical procedure, device, or other treatment is effective for treating certain diseases and conditions. You can see if there are any clinical trials of treatments for stomach cancer on the
Types Of Stomach Cancer
The most common type of stomach cancer is adenocarcinoma of the stomach . This cancer starts in the glandular tissue found on the stomachs inner surface.
Other less common types of cancer can affect the stomach including small cell carcinomas, lymphomas, neuroendocrine tumours and gastrointestinal stromal tumours. Your doctor will be able to explain more about these types of stomach cancer.
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What Are Stomach Cancer Treatments
Many treatments can fight stomach cancer. The one you and your doctor choose will depend on how long you’ve had the disease or how much it has spread in your body, called the stage of your cancer:
Stage 0. This is when the inside lining of your stomach has a group of unhealthy cells that may turn into cancer. Surgery usually cures it. Your doctor may remove part or all of your stomach, as well as nearby lymph nodes — small organs that are part of your body’s germ-fighting system.
Stage I. At this point, you have a tumor in your stomach’s lining, and it may have spread into your lymph nodes. As with stage 0, you’ll likely have surgery to remove part or all of your stomach and nearby lymph nodes. You might also get chemotherapy or chemoradiation. These treatments can be used before surgery to shrink the tumor and afterward to kill any cancer that’s left.
Chemotherapy uses drugs to attack cancer cells. Chemoradiation is chemo plus radiation therapy, which destroys cancer cells with beams of high energy.
Stage II. Cancer has spread into deeper layers of the stomach and maybe into nearby lymph nodes. Surgery to remove part or all of your stomach, as well as nearby lymph nodes, is still the main treatment. You’re very likely to get chemo or chemoradiation beforehand, and you might get one of them after, too.
You usually have surgery to remove your entire stomach, along with chemo or chemoradiation. This can sometimes cure it. If not, it can at least help with symptoms.
Tests For Stomach Cancer
Your doctor may do some tests to check for stomach cancer:
- Endoscopy a doctor passes a long, flexible tube with a light and small camera on the end into your mouth, down your throat and oesophagus, and into your stomach and small bowel. This allows the doctor to look inside your digestive tract to examine the lining.
- Biopsy during an endoscopy if the doctor sees any suspicious-looking areas they may remove a small amount of tissue from the stomach lining, known as a biopsy, a pathologist will then examine the tissue under a microscope to check for signs of disease.
- Endoscopic ultrasound a doctor passes an endoscope with an ultrasound probe on the end into your mouth, down your throat and oesophagus, and into your stomach and small bowel. The ultrasound probe then uses sound waves to create a picture of your stomach.
If these tests show you have stomach cancer you will then have some of the following tests to check your general health and to find out if the cancer has spread to other parts of your body:
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What Is Stage 4 Stomach Cancer
Stomach cancer is cancer that starts in the stomach. Its staged according to how far it has spread at the time of diagnosis.
In stage 4, stomach cancer has spread through tissue, the bloodstream, or lymph system to distant parts of the body. Cancer may be found in organs such as the liver, lungs, or distant lymph nodes.
Stage 4 is also called advanced stomach cancer.
Knowing the stage of stomach cancer helps determine treatment options. It also provides a general overview of what to expect.
Keep reading to learn more about stage 4 stomach cancer, how its treated, and the five-year survival rate.
usually not curable, but its certainly treatable.
The goal of treatment is to ease symptoms and control the cancers growth. Your doctor will recommend therapies based on your age and overall health, including any other health conditions you may have. Your options also depend on specific characteristics of the cancer.
Treatment for cancer usually involves a combination of therapies. Your treatment plan can be adjusted based on how well its working. Tell your doctor if you have new symptoms along the way so they can be factored in.
Some treatments for stage 4 stomach cancer are:
Prognosis Of Stomach Cancer
Fewer than 5 to 15% of people with adenocarcinoma of the stomach survive longer than 5 years. The cancer tends to spread early to other sites.
The prognosis is good if the cancer has not penetrated the stomach wall too deeply. In such cases, up to 80% of people may survive for 5 years. However, in the United States, the results of surgery are often poor, because most people have extensive cancer by the time a diagnosis is made. In Japan, where stomach cancer is very common, mass public health screening programs help to detect it early so that a cure is more likely.
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Diagnosis Of Stomach Cancer
If your doctor thinks you may have stomach cancer, you will be referred for further tests. The main test is an endoscopy . The doctor will use a thin, flexible tube with a camera , which passes into the mouth, down the throat and oesophagus into the stomach in order to look at the digestive tract.
If any suspicious-looking areas are detected, a small amount of tissue from the stomach lining may be removed and examined under a microscope. Less commonly used is an endoscopic ultrasound where the endoscope has an ultrasound probe at the end.
What Are The Signs Of Gastric Cancer
It is not common to have symptoms of stomach cancer until the cancer is quite advanced. If you do develop symptoms, you may have:
- Weight loss can be related to poor appetite or early satiety .
- Discomfort and pain in the belly.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Enlarged belly from fluid buildup.
- Enlarged lymph nodes in the underarms, belly button, and clavicle .
The symptoms of stomach cancer can be the symptoms seen in many other illnesses such as peptic ulcer disease and gastritis. Often, treatment for these conditions will be tried first, as these are much more common than gastric cancer. If your symptoms continue, it is important to talk with your provider about further testing.
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Development Of Stomach Cancer
Stomach cancers tend to develop slowly over many years. Before a true cancer develops, pre-cancerous changes often occur in the inner lining of the stomach. These early changes rarely cause symptoms, so they often go undetected.
Cancers starting in different sections of the stomach can cause different symptoms and tend to have different outcomes. The cancers location can also affect treatment options. For example, cancers that start at or grow into the GE junction are usually staged and treated the same as cancers of the esophagus.
What Is The Prognosis For People Who Have Stomach Cancer
The outlook for stomach cancer depends on the stage of the cancer. People in the early stages of stomach cancer have a much greater rate of survival than those at a later stage:
- If stomach cancer is found in its earliest stage and can be removed with an endoscope, the five-year survival rate is higher than 90 percent.
- If the cancer is found after it has spread to areas surrounding the stomach, the five-year survival rate is 28 percent.
- If the cancer has spread to areas beyond those surrounding the stomach, the five-year survival rate is 4 percent.
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 02/17/2019.
References
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Stomach Cancer Screening In People At Increased Risk
The benefits of screening might outweigh the risks in some people who are at increased risk for stomach cancer because they have certain risk factors . For example, upper endoscopy might be recommended at regular intervals in these people.
If you have risk factors that might increase your risk of stomach cancer, talk to your doctor about the possible pros and cons of stomach cancer screening for you.
Screening isn’t usually recommended for people in families with hereditary diffuse gastric cancer . Instead, doctors often recommend that people who have changes in the CDH1 gene that causes this syndrome consider having their stomach removed , because their risk of stomach cancer is very high.
Signs Of Stomach Cancer
People dont usually notice early stomach cancer symptoms because they resemble symptoms of other health problems. Stomach cancer symptoms are the same in both men and women, although men are more likely to get the disease.
There is no single first sign of stomach cancer, but the first warning signs are usually gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, loss of appetite and abdominal discomfort that lasts for several days.
People no longer feel hungry and ultimately start losing weight without trying. Thats probably the most concerning symptom. Dr. Kevin El-Hayek, surgeon, Cleveland Clinic
- Yellowing of eye and skin
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Risks And Causes Of Stomach Cancer
Your risk of developing stomach cancer depends on many things including your age and lifestyle.
Anything that can increase your risk of cancer is called a risk factor. Those that lower the risk are called protective factors.
Having one or more risk factors doesnt mean that you will definitely get stomach cancer.