Stomach Cancer Specialist

What is stomach cancer?

Stomach cancer develops when the mucus-producing cells lining your stomach mutate, dividing and multiplying rapidly to form growths or tumors. Cancerous cells can also travel in the blood to other parts of the body and cause tumors.

Stomach cancer can affect the main part of your stomach or the top part where your stomach joins your esophagus. This part of your stomach is called the gastroesophageal junction, and cancers affecting this part of the stomach are increasing worldwide, while cancer in the main part of the stomach is decreasing.

What are the symptoms of stomach cancer?

Symptoms of stomach cancer might include:

• Fatigue
• Feeling bloated
• Getting full quickly
• Severe, persistent heartburn
• Constant indigestion
• Persistent nausea
• Stomach pain
• Persistent vomiting
• Unintentional weight loss

The cause of stomach cancer isn’t known for sure, but there’s plenty of evidence to show there are risk factors that make your chances of developing stomach cancer far greater.

What factors could increase the risk of stomach cancer?

Diet can have a significant effect on your risk of developing stomach cancer, as can underlying conditions affecting the stomach and esophagus. Risks include:

• Excess salt
• Excess smoked foods
• Not enough fruit
• Not enough vegetables
• Obesity
• Family history
• Pernicious anemia
• Smoking
• Stomach polyps

• Helicobacter pylori

• GERD

Helicobacter pylori are bacteria that are the primary cause of stomach ulcers. GERD (gastrointestinal reflux disease) is a condition that develops when stomach acid flows back up the esophagus, causing heartburn.

How is stomach cancer treated?

Surgery is a good option when the cancer is in its earlier stages. Your surgeon removes the affected area of your stomach and some of the healthy tissue, and very often any lymph nodes that are nearby.

Very small tumors are removable using an endoscope, which is a tube that has a light and a camera on one end. The tube goes down your throat, giving a view of your stomach and enabling your surgeon to use endoscopic instruments to remove the growth, so you avoid invasive surgery.

In some cases, the whole stomach needs to be removed (a total gastrectomy), in which case your surgeon attaches your esophagus to your small intestine.

Your treatment could also include radiation therapy, which uses high-powered energy from X-rays or protons to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy also kills cancer cells, using potent drugs that you take as pills or a series of injections.

You might be a candidate for immunotherapy treatments depending on the type of cancer you have and how advanced it is.

The team at Wellness Oncology & Hematology prepares a customized treatment plan for you based on your general health, your wishes, and the extent of your cancer. To find out more, call today to schedule a consultation, or book an appointment online.