17 years
What are the symptoms of stomach cancer and is it dangerous?
Sep 17, 2014
Stomach cancers tend to develop insidiously and slowly over years. Typically, pre-cancerous changes in the stomach inner linings (mucosa) occur before the fully-fledged cancer develops. These early changes are rarely symptomatic, as such they usually pass unnoticed.
Cancers happening in different segments of the stomach may cause different symptoms and tend to have different clinical outcomes in terms of disease prognosis. The part of the stomach affected will dictate the treatment options.
Stomach cancers can spread (metastasize) in various ways: they can grow through the wall of the stomach and invade nearby organs. They can also spread to the lymph vessels and nearby lymph nodes. Ultimately, as the stomach cancer reaches advanced stages, it can invade the bloodstream and travel through it to other organs such as the liver, lungs, and bones. If cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or to other organs, the prognosis becomes very poor..
Different types of stomach cancer include:
Adenocarcinoma
Gastric adenocarcinomas constitute about 90% to 95% of cancers of the stomach. These cancers develop from the cells that form the innermost lining of the stomach (known as the mucosa).
Lymphoma
These are cancers of the immune system tissue that sometimes affect the wall of the stomach. About 4% of stomach cancers are lymphomas.
Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)
A rare class of tumors, these usually begin in very early forms of cells in the wall of the stomach. They can be non-cancerous (benign) or are cancerous.
Carcinoid tumor
This type of tumors form in hormone-making cells of the stomach. They are usually limited to the stomach and do not spread to other organs. About 3% of stomach cancers are carcinoid tumors.
Other cancers
Other types of cancer, such as squamous cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, and leiomyosarcoma, can also start in the stomach, but these cancers are very rare.
The exact cause of stomach cancer remains elusive, but a number of factors can increase the risk of the disease, including:
• Gender -- men are a two time higher risk of getting stomach cancer than women.
• Race -- African-American or Asian Genetics -- genetic abnormalities and some inherited cancer syndromes may increase your risk
• Geography: stomach cancer is more common in Japan, the former Soviet Union, and parts of Central America and South America.
• Blood type: blood group A is linked to an increased risk.
• Advanced age
• Family history of gastric cancer can double or triple the risk of stomach cancer.
• Lifestyle factors: including smoking, drinking alcohol, and eating a diet low in fibers or high in salted, smoked, or nitrate-preserved foods
• Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori): a common stomach bacterial infection that causes chronic inflammation and ulcers.
• Certain health conditions including chronic gastritis, pernicious anemia, gastric polyps, intestinal metaplasia, and prior stomach surgery.
• Work-related hazardous exposure: like coal mining, nickel refining, and rubber and timber processing and asbestos exposure.
Early gastric cancer has no well-defined associated symptoms; however, some patients with unrelated or incidental complaints may receive the diagnosis of early gastric cancer. Most symptoms of gastric cancer are concurrent with advanced-stage disease. All physical signs in gastric cancer are late events: by the time they develop, the disease is almost always too far advanced for curative procedures.
Signs and symptoms of gastric cancer include the following:
• Indigestion: heart burn, stomach pain after eating, bloating
• Nausea or vomiting
• Dysphagia: discomfort or pain upon swallowing
• Feeling of fullness shortly after meals; early satiety
• Loss of appetite
• Abnormal stool color: tar-colored stools due to bleeding from the stomach tumor
• Hematemesis
• Weight loss
• Palpable enlarged stomach
• Enlarged lymph nodes
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