Stomach Cancer is one of the malignancies which remain difficult to treat as it spreads fast. So it becomes important that we are aware of it and respond at the earliest to any particular symptoms.
When there is uncontrolled growth of cells in your stomach it is known as stomach cancer.
There are certain risk factors which can make one person prone to stomach cancers. But that does not mean that any person having risk factors will develop stomach cancer, similarly also a person without any risk factors can develop cancer.
With any of the above symptoms you should visit your gastroenterologist or GI surgeon/Oncologist. They will order certain tests to diagnose the problem.
a. UGI Endoscopy: This involves placing a camera through your mouth into the stomach to look for any abnormal growth and taking the biopsy.
Once the diagnosis is confirmed on biopsy, your surgeon will be ordering one CT scan of the abdomen.
b. CT Scan: This will tell about the extent of the disease and help your surgeon in deciding the Surgery.
Surgery remains the mainstay and involves removal of a part or total stomach depending upon the location of the tumor with subsequent reconstruction.
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are usually given after the surgery but sometimes if the initial disease is bigger and not appropriate for surgery you might be asked to take chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy prior to surgery to make the disease operable.