Stomach cancer

Stomach cancer is a malignant condition in which a tumor forms in the stomach, usually in the gastric mucosa. The stomach plays a crucial role in digesting food, and a tumor can seriously interfere with this function. Stomach cancer often develops slowly and can spread in the early stages without obvious symptoms, so it is often only discovered at an advanced stage.

Symptoms of stomach cancer may vary but usually include a combination of decreased appetite, weight loss, persistent stomach pain, feeling full after small meals, nausea, vomiting (sometimes with blood), and black, tarry stools due to internal bleeding. However, these symptoms can also occur with other, less serious stomach problems, making it difficult to make an early diagnosis.

The exact cause of stomach cancer is often unknown, but there are several risk factors. These include an infection with the bacteria *Helicobacter pylori*, long-term stomach inflammation, smoking, a diet high in salty and smoked foods, genetic predisposition, and age (it is more common in people over 50). Early detection of stomach cancer is important, as treatment options and prognosis depend heavily on how far the disease has progressed at the time of discovery.

Treatment for stomach cancer varies and may include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or a combination of these methods. The choice of treatment depends on the stage of the cancer, the location of the tumor, and the patient's overall health.

In the initial stage, most stomach tumors do not cause any complaints.
Only later do symptoms such as stomach pain (pain, acidity or discomfort), nausea and vomiting, a feeling of satiety quickly occur with a meal, difficult passage of food when swallowing (dysphagia) and unexplained weight loss.
Anemia can occur because the tumor bleeds. As a result, you can sometimes have pitch black stools (melena) notice if there were small amounts of blood.

The cause is not entirely clear, but environmental factors would play a major role.

The bacterium Helicobacter Pylori, which can cause chronic inflammation of the gastric mucosa, is the most important risk factor. This bacteria is common, but fortunately it is easy to treat with a combination of 2 or 3 types of antibiotics. It therefore rarely leads to cancer.

In addition, frequent eating of highly salted and smoked foods (barbecue), heredity (3-5% of all stomach cancers), partial gastric removal, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and occupational exposure to certain exhalations are associated with a increased risk on stomach cancer.

Your doctor may, based on the complaints suspect a stomach tumor, but to confirm the diagnosis, further testing is carried out by a gastrointestinal specialist needed.

‍

It will be a viewing research of the stomach (gastroscopy) perform and remove a piece of tissue from the tumor for microscopic examination (biopsy).

With Ultrasound and CT scan, possibly supplemented with a keyhole surgery, MRI scan or PET scan, metastases will be detected.

‍

If the diagnosis is confirmed, further technical surveys (including a CT scan) show whether the cancer has spread. Based on this, a treatment will be chosen.

One blood tests may show anemia.

Are there no metastases? Then the option is to surgically remove the tumor after a viewing operation has already taken place beforehand. The glands near the stomach are also removed and examined for cancer cells. This is often combined with chemotherapy. It can be started even before the procedure to reduce the size of the tumor and to facilitate the procedure. Afterwards, chemotherapy continues.

‍

In 75% of cases, there are but metastases. Then it is often decided to only give chemotherapy, and to further limit yourself to symptomatic, palliative treatment. The focus here is rather on quality of life, rather than on healing.

‍

After and during treatment the patient will be closely monitored to detect and treat relapse, tumor expansion and any deficiencies (e.g. vitamin B12) that occur due to the removal of the stomach.

‍

Only with complications such as a complete stop in the passage of the food (obstruction), surgical intervention is still being carried out. A tumor marker can be determined in the blood. This can be useful for monitoring the treatment.