Where Does Stomach Cancer Metastasis To

Surgery For Stomach Cancer

Surgery is often part of the treatment for stomach cancer if it can be done. There are different kinds of surgery. The type thats best for you depends on how big the cancer is and where it is in the stomach. Surgery might be done for different reasons. If the cancer is small enough, it might be done to try to remove all of it. If the cancer cant be removed, surgery might be done to help prevent or relieve symptoms. Ask your doctor what kind of surgery you will have and what to expect.

Side effects of surgery

Any type of surgery can have risks and side effects, such as bleeding or infections. If part or all of your stomach is removed, it can affect the way you eat. Be sure to ask the doctor what you can expect. If you have problems, let your doctors know. Doctors who treat people with stomach cancer should be able to help you with any problems that come up.

Metastatic Gastric Adenocarcinoma: Its Association With Stage Iv Stomach Cancer

When stomach cancer spreads to the areas located near the stomach, it is referred to as regional metastasis and when it spreads to organs or parts that are far away from the stomach, it is known as distant metastasis. Sometimes, recurrent stomach cancer may also be counted as metastatic stomach cancer because distant metastasis might be observed when cancer has reoccurred after a few years.

According to the stages of stomach cancer defined by the American Cancer Society, metastatic gastric cancer occurs at stage 4 because stomach cancer, at this stage, spreads to the distant organs such as the liver, lungs, brain, or the peritoneum .

Stage IV stomach cancer is the most advanced form of stomach cancer and it cannot be cured. This type of cancer is very hard to treat but the treatment helps to keep the cancer under control, improves quality of life of patients and also helps to minimize the symptoms of stomach cancer.

There Are Three Ways That Cancer Spreads In The Body

Cancer can spread through tissue, the lymph system, and the blood:

• Tissue. The cancer spreads from where it began by growing into nearby areas.
• Lymph system. The cancer spreads from where it began by getting into the lymph system. The cancer travels through the lymph vessels to other parts of the body.
• Blood. The cancer spreads from where it began by getting into the blood. The cancer travels through the blood vessels to other parts of the body.

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Does Treatment Cure Metastatic Cancer

In some situations, metastatic cancer can be cured, but most commonly, treatment does not cure the cancer. But doctors can treat it to slow its growth and reduce symptoms. It is possible to live for many months or years with certain types of cancer, even after the development of metastatic disease.

How well any treatment works depends on:

• The type of cancer

• How far the cancer has spread and where it is located

• How much cancer there is

• If the cancer is growing quickly or slowly

• The specific treatment

• How the cancer responds to treatment

It is important to ask your doctor about the goals of treatment. These goals may change during your care, depending on whether the cancer responds to the treatment. It is also important to know that pain, nausea, and other side effects can be managed with the help of your health care team. This is called palliative care and should be a part of any treatment plan.

Research shows that palliative care can improve the quality of your life and help you feel more satisfied with the treatment you receive. Learn more about palliative care, or supportive care.

How Is Stomach Cancer Treated

There are several approaches to treating stomach cancer. In many cases, surgery can be avoided.

In the early stages when the cancer is limited to the superficial layers of the stomach, the cancer can be removed through an upper endoscopy performed by a gastroenterologist. In this procedure , the tumor is dissected from the rest of the gastric wall and removed through the mouth.

Once the tumor invades beyond the superficial layers of the stomach, surgery will be required to remove the stomach and connect the esophagus to the small intestines to allow for digestion.

Radiation therapy uses high-powered beams of energy to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy uses chemicals to kill the cancer cells. These treatments are generally combined.

There are also several drugs to treat stomach cancer. Treatment depends on how severe the cancer is and is decided upon by a doctor after diagnosis.

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Staging Can Be Done At Different Times

Stomach cancer might be staged at different times during the course of a persons treatment.

Usually, the cancer is first given a clinical stage. This is based on the results of any physical exams, biopsies, imaging tests, and procedures that have been done. The clinical stage can be used to help plan treatment.

If surgery is done to remove the cancer, the pathological stage can be determined. This is based on the results of any exams or tests that have been done, as well as the results from the surgery. Sometimes the pathological stage is different from the clinical stagefor example, if surgery finds the cancer has spread farther than could be seen on imaging tests.

Some people might get other treatments before surgery, such as chemotherapy or radiation, to try to shrink the cancer and make the surgery easier. This is known as neoadjuvant treatment. Staging might be done again after this treatment to assess how well it worked.

The table below, describing the TNM stage grouping in more detail, is based on the pathological stage of the cancer. If your cancer has been clinically staged or if you have had neoadjuvant therapy, it’s best to talk to your doctor about the specific stage for your situation.

Symptoms Of Metastatic Cancer

Metastatic cancer does not always cause symptoms. When symptoms do occur, what they are like and how often you have them will depend on the size and location of the metastatic tumors. Some common signs of metastatic cancer include:

• pain and fractures, when cancer has spread to the bone
• headache, seizures, or dizziness, when cancer has spread to the brain
• shortness of breath, when cancer has spread to the lung
• jaundice or swelling in the belly, when cancer has spread to the liver

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Stem Cell Or Bone Marrow Transplant

A stem cell transplant, sometimes called bone marrow transplant, replaces damaged blood-forming cells with healthy ones. The procedure takes place following large-dose chemotherapy or radiation therapy to kill cancer cells and to stop your stem cells from producing cancerous cells.

Stem cell transplants can be used for several types of cancer, including multiple myeloma and some kinds of leukemia.

How Is Stomach Cancer Diagnosed

Several different tests can be used to help diagnose stomach cancer.

• Radiologic tests like a CT scan, barium swallow and MRI can help identify a problem in the stomach if the tumor is large enough.
• An upper endoscopy is used to take a biopsy of the lesion to make the diagnosis or to detect early cancer before a mass is large enough to be seen on radiologic tests. An upper endoscopy is performed by inserting a thin tube with a tiny camera through the mouth and into the stomach, where biopsies are obtained from the tumor.
• To find out how much of the stomach wall a tumor involves and to help assess the stage of the cancer, a doctor will order an endoscopic ultrasound, which uses a special type of endoscope that has an ultrasound probe. The endoscope is placed in the stomach through the mouth. The ultrasound probe is able to look through the surface of the stomach lining to the stomach wall beyond and see how much of the stomach is involved by the tumor.

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When Metastatic Cancer Can No Longer Be Controlled

If you have been told your cancer can no longer be controlled, you and your loved ones may want to discuss end-of-life care. Whether or not you choose to continue treatment to shrink the cancer or control its growth, you can always receive palliative care to control the symptoms of cancer and the side effects of treatment. Information on coping with and planning for end-of-life care is available in the Advanced Cancer section of this site.

Laser Therapy Or Stent

Laser therapy can be used to destroy tumors, stop bleeding, or alleviate a blockage in the stomach.

This can sometimes be accomplished without surgery.

The doctor inserts a long, flexible tube called an endoscope down the throat and into the stomach to deliver the laser beam. This is also called endoscopic tumor ablation.

Hollow tubes called stents can sometimes help. By placing a stent between the stomach and esophagus or between the stomach and small intestine, food will be able to pass through unobstructed.

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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

Where Does Stomach Cancer Metastasis To

In this regard, where Does stomach cancer spread first?

The first lymph nodes that cancer cellsspread to are the “perigastric” nodes along the sides of thestomach itself. They can then spread to lymph nodesadjacent to the liver, spleen, pancreas, and aorta. Gastriccancers can also spread through thebloodstream.

Likewise, does stomach cancer spread to the bones? Introduction. Bone is a common site ofmetastasis of carcinoma of prostrate, breast, lung,kidney, bladder and thyroid. Gastric cancer infrequentlymetastasizes to the bone. Disseminated bony metastases asthe first clinical manifestation are seen in exceptional cases andit is known to have a very poor prognosis.

Thereof, how does stomach cancer progress?

Stomach cancer begins when cancer cellsform in the inner lining of your stomach. These cells cangrow into a tumor. Also called gastric cancer,the disease usually grows slowly over many years. If you know thesymptoms it causes, you and your doctor may be able to spot itearly, when it’s easiest to treat.

Can Stomach cancer spread to the kidneys?

The occurrence of metastases to the stomach fromvarious neoplasms is not common. In the autopsy series, thestomach has been reported as a metastatic site in0.2% to 0.7% of cases. Lung cancer, breast cancer,and malignant melanoma were reported most often as primarytumors associated with gastricmetastasis.

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Symptoms Of Gastric Cancer Include Indigestion And Stomach Discomfort Or Pain

These and other signs and symptoms may be caused by gastric cancer or by other conditions.

In the early stages of gastric cancer, the following symptoms may occur:

• Indigestion and stomach discomfort.

• Weight loss for no known reason.
• Stomach pain.
• Jaundice .
• Ascites .
• Trouble swallowing.

Check with your doctor if you have any of these problems.

Potential Superiority Of Surgery In Gastric Cancer With Liver Metastasis

Available evidence of surgery for patients with GCLM mostly relies on retrospective studies, systematic reviews, and prospective trials. Data published after 2000 mostly showed significant and prognostic benefits of surgical resection for GCLM , and the benefits were in continuous increase owing to advancements in accurate diagnosis, patient selection, perioperative nutritional support, anesthetic techniques, surgery approaches, management of post-operative complications, and enhanced recovery after surgery.

Table 1. Demographics and survival in GCLM patients underwent surgical resection.

Despite the significant survival benefits from gastrectomy combined with hepatectomy over non-resectional management in patients with GCLM, as well as favorable published outcomes from chemotherapy followed by surgery over chemotherapy alone, it must be stressed that most of data came from retrospective studies and systematic reviews. Thus, outcome data from the AIO-FLOT5 trial and the SURGIGAST trial are awaited to verify the survival benefit of surgical resection suggested by retrospective studies and systematic reviews.

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What Screening Tests Are Available

Currently, there is no approved routine screening test for gastric cancer in the U.S. If you have known risk factors such as atrophic gastritis , you may want to speak to your provider about the need for screening tests. Currently, screening for H. Pylori is not recommended in areas with a relatively low incidence of gastric cancer, such as in the United States.

In Japan, where gastric cancer is much more common, screening programs are used. A variety of tests have been used in these screening programs including upper gastrointestinal series , upper endoscopies, Helicobacter pylori antibody test, and serum pepsinogen tests.

Families with a known HDGC mutation CHD1 should speak to their provider about having a screening endoscopy .

Diagnosis: How Do We Detect Metastatic Stomach Cancer

In stage 4, when cancer has spread to farther parts of the body, it is diagnosed as metastatic stomach cancer or metastatic gastric cancer . Common organs affected by MGC are liver, lungs, lymph nodes, and bones. If the stomach cancer has metastasized to lungs, it can be referred to as stomach cancer with lung metastasis.

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The Ajcc Tnm Staging System

The staging system most often used for stomach cancer is the American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM system, which was last updated in 2018.

This system is used to stage all stomach cancers except those starting in the gastroesophageal junction or those that start in the cardia and are growing into the gastroesophageal junction. Those cancers are staged like cancers of the esophagus. Other types of cancer that can start in the stomach, such as gastrointestinal stromal tumors and lymphomas, are staged differently as well.

The TNM system for stomach cancer is based on 3 key pieces of information:

The T category describes the extent of the main tumor, including how far it has grown into the layers of the stomach wall and if it has reached nearby structures or organs.

The 5 layers of the stomach wall include:

• Mucosa: the innermost layer, where nearly all stomach cancers start. The mucosa has 3 parts: epithelial cells, a layer of connective tissue , and a thin layer of muscle .
• Submucosa: a supporting layer under the mucosa
• Muscularis propria: a thick layer of muscle that moves and mixes the stomach contents
• Subserosa
• Serosa: the outer, wrapping layer of the stomach

The N category describes any cancer spread to nearby lymph nodes.

The M category describes any spread to distant parts of the body, such as the liver or lungs.

Numbers or letters after T, N, and M provide more details about each of these factors. Higher numbers mean the cancer is more advanced.

Surgery To Ease Your Symptoms

If your stomach cancer has spread beyond your stomach, it may not be possible to remove it using surgery.

However, if your stomach has been significantly affected by cancer it can cause a blockage, which prevents food from being properly digested. A blocked stomach can cause symptoms such as stomach pain, vomiting and feeling very full after eating.

If your stomach is blocked, there are a few options:

• stenting a stent is a plastic or wire mesh tube inserted through the oesophagus using an endoscope under local anaesthetic after being inserted, the stent will be expanded and open up the stomach
• partial or total gastrectomy to remove the blockage and improve your symptoms

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Targeted Drug Therapy Or Immunotherapy

Targeted drug therapy can be used to treat advanced stomach cancer. These drugs attack specific characteristics of the cancer. Some of these are:

• imatinib , for stromal tumors
• ramucirumab , for advanced stomach cancer when other treatments arent effective
• regorafenib , for stromal tumors
• sunitinib , for stromal tumors
• trastuzumab , for HER2-positive tumors

Immunotherapy drugs boost your immune system to help attack cancer.

Pembrolizumab is an immunotherapy drug used to treat stomach cancer that has returned or spread in people who have tried but didnt respond to or stopped responding to two or more types of chemotherapy.

How Can I Prevent Gastric Cancer

Because there is no one risk factor directly associated with gastric cancer, there is no specific way to prevent it. However, there are ways to prevent cancer in general. These include a balanced diet low in smoked foods, pickled foods and preserved or heavily salted meats and fish. You should try to eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins. Maintaining a healthy way of life and staying active can also help prevent cancer.

Avoid tobacco use. If you use tobacco, you should quit as tobacco use has been shown to cause many types of cancer. If you need help quitting, you should speak with your healthcare provider.

Since H. pylori infections have been linked to the development of gastric cancers, quick treatment of H. pylori infections may decrease the number of gastric cancers. However, if treating H. Pylori actually reduces the risk of gastric cancer remains controversial.

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