The stomach is an important part of the body that helps in the digestion process. It is placed in the upper middle part of the belly just beneath the rib cages. Stomach Cancer is also known as gastric cancer which is a growth of cancer cells in the stomach region. The stomach performs several important functions e.g. digestion, food breakdown and absorption. For many reasons, stomach Cancer happens in the stomach. Most importantly, the cancer in the stomach region begins with the gastroesophageal junction (This is a long tube that carries food to the stomach after being swallowed). The oesophagus is the food pipe that carries food to the stomach.

What is stomach Cancer?

Gastric cancer is no joke as people who are suffering from this disease can’t eat or digest something through their stomach. As time passes by, the condition becomes worse which is a struggling aspect of cancer. However, the treatment requires proper diagnosis where the doctors seek the origin of the gastric cancer, the cancer stages and the cancer cell mutations which play a crucial role while assisting in the treatments. But the treatment is surgery to remove the stomach part where the cancer starts. On the other hand, the other treatments follow several therapies before and after the surgery.

Stomach Cancer Causes to discuss

According to the doctors, when your stomach’s inner linings are hurt you develop some kind of cell mutation due to an exposed wound internally. However, there is no concrete evidence that stomach cancer happens due to this particular single reason which makes it very clear that there is no direct cause of gastric cancer in the human body. After examining several symptoms of gastric irregularities we can only conclude on a simple note which says something hurt the inner lining of the stomach which results in stomach cancer. As a result, it causes the cells in the stomach lining to develop mutations in their DNA.

Stomach Cancer Spread

As we already know gastric cancer is one of the most notorious forms of Cancer that affects your dietary habits as well as stomach digestion. These changes in the DNA tell them to multiply quickly and spread. As we all know a self DNA tells them to perform specific permission within their boundaries. These mutated cells in the stomach will keep on living and feeding over the dead cells in the body which makes it a parasitic symptom. This phenomenon will cause extra cells in the stomach leading to tumours. Cancer cells can easily invade and destroy healthy body tissues leading to overgrowth development within the body. They can also grow in the deep stomach lining causing severe gastric problems. Most importantly, if these cells are not printed correctly then they can invisibly grow and spread to different internal organs compromising your immunity.

Stomach Cancer Symptoms

To my surprise, stomach cancer doesn’t show any specific type of abnormalities in the digestion process which makes it extremely difficult to diagnose. The set of symptoms we are talking about is mainly related to stomach functionalities but problems like constipation, indigestion and stomach pain are some of the common issues that we already face in our day-to-day lifestyle. Therefore, we should assume that the stomach will not show any abnormal symptoms of gastric cancer until the cancer is in an advanced stage which is really an alarming sign. Despite that, there are some symptoms which have been mentioned below:-

• You will start feeling troubled in swallowing the food because stomach cancer starts with the food pipe that connects with the stomach.
• Belly pain starts to become more painful throughout the day.

• The feeling of being bloated after eating anything would be an alarming sign of gastric cancer.

• This is not an exact symptom of gastric cancer because being full after eating a small amount of food is something that we already experience in a calorie deficit so take it with a grain of salt.

• Experiencing heartburn can also be a valid symptom of acidity within the stomach.

• Constipation or indigestion is considered normal but if you are constipated for more than 3 to 4 days then you should get to the doctor.

There are several other symptoms that we kept on discovering but there is nothing exact in stomach cancer that we can directly relate to the cancer cells. So it’s all about monitoring your symptoms and getting properly diagnosed.

Stomach cancer types 

This is really interesting because cancer cells can easily spread to different regions of the stomach which indirectly changes the types of stomach cancer that we will experience. So listed below are the types of gastric cancer along with detailed explanations:-

1. Adenocarcinoma- This is the most common stomach cancer that starts with mucus cells. It is generally said that anyone who has stomach cancer must begin with adenocarcinoma stomach cancer. However, this is like a default cancer in the stomach which starts with the initial stage of cancer cell mutation.

2. Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST)- is a soft tissue sarcoma which is a special type of nerve cells found in the lining of the stomach which helps in the digestion process. So this would be an advanced cancer state which directly affects your stomach functions.

3. Carcinoid tumours- These are cancer-causing tumours that are basically found in the neuroendocrine cells. However, these cells play an important role in regulating the acid reflexes of the stomach environment making food digestible properly.

4. Lymphoma- This is the type of gastric cancer that starts in the immune system. As we know the body’s immune system helps to fight germs and viruses, that’s why lymphoma can start in the stomach which makes the body send immune system cells in the stomach region to eliminate germs. During this state, our body can sometimes show several symptoms of an upset stomach.

Stomach Cancer treatments

Stomach cancer treatment depends on the cancer-affected regions, your cancer stage and treatment preferences. Most of the time in any cancer treatment more than one person is involved depending on the cancer-affected regions for example in gastric cancer you will have two doctors on board one is a cancer specialist oncologist and the second a gastrointestinal specialist (gastroenterologist). Both can advise on their own terms to help you with ongoing treatment. Some of the most common cancer treatments have been mentioned below:-

1. Surgery is the only option that could eliminate pre-cancer cell tumours for the entire stomach part affected with gastric cancer. But before going for surgery you should know which type of surgery will be efficient for your cancer treatment. There are some of the most effective surgeries for gastric cancer.

• Upper endoscopy- This surgery is the very first step towards gastric cancer treatment because in the initial phase, when the pre cancer cells are only limited to the stomach’s superficial (uppermost) layers, then the cancer can be easily eliminated through an upper endoscopy. In this procedure, a gastroenterologist can cut the tumour and remove it from the mouth. However, it can be done by endoscopic submucosal direction.

• Gastrectomy- In this surgery, the doctors will remove the cancer affecting part of the stomach. There are two types of gastrectomy, which include subtotal gastrectomy and total gastrectomy. The doctor would eliminate the cancer affecting part of the stomach depending on the spread of Cancer cells. Within this surgery, doctors can remove your stomach partly or completely by connecting the oesophagus to your small intestine to help with the eating process.

There are enough gastric cancer treatments available apart from surgical methods which focus on killing the cancer cells rather than eliminating the organ part:-

• Chemotherapy (chemo) uses anticancer drugs to shrink the Cancer cells and eliminate them naturally before the surgeries. In addition to this, it can be used as a post-surgery treatment to reduce any cancer cells to close to elimination leaving no chance for the cancer to spread. Oncologists recommend chemotherapy along with radiation therapy to reduce any chance of rejuvenating the cancer cells.

• Radiation therapy can only be as effective as chemo if the patient uses both the treatment before and after the surgery. In this therapy, a high-intensity focused energy beam is used to kill cancer cells in the stomach. However, this beam also helps to relieve cancer symptoms to reduce any chances of Cancer spreading in the body. These are some of the best-known cancer treatments that you can enrol for and save your body from cancer spreading as soon as possible.

Final verdict 

Gastric cancer is as bad as any other cancer but the symptoms are not as dangerous as any other cancer stage which makes people believe that these are the symptoms related to only an upset stomach and ignoring such symptoms would be life-threatening. Therefore, I would simply urge everyone to take their health indicators seriously. If your body is not showing the science of a healthy personality then there is something wrong and you need to get your health checked properly to leave no room for auspicious risks.

About The Author

Dr Abimdola Amen, PhD, AFHEA

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