Stomach cancer

Stomach Cancer: What are the symptoms? Anyone with a fair idea about what cancer is, is somewhat aware of its sign (to attach a medical innuendo, symptom is the word) but usually falls short when it comes to the treatment part. A devil no doubt, this particular aspect also makes cancer a sort of a dilemma and the quandary doubles when it relates to the stomach. But stomach cancer happens to be just a part of the big picture that often deludes and takes camouflage until the day hell (read the stomach linings) breaks loose, making treatment all the more difficult because of it’s advancements under the disguise of indigestion or heartburn, acidity, pain in the abdomen, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, loss of appetite and physical weakness - the difficulties that people often tend to overlook until blood shows up in the vomit and in the fecal matters. However, fact remains that knowing the symptoms or the sign of stomach-related cancer brings into picture the silent killer even before it can inflict further considerable damage and once diagnosed, treatment becomes easier for eradicating the disease right after detection.

Stomach cancer - The sign of the THING to come : Taking under consideration the hard-to-detect sign (symptom) at its initial stage, stomach cancer can spread extensively before a successful detection. However, an ulcer, a malignant tumor or the presences of certain type of stomach virus make the sign more conspicuous and serves as the point of origin of metastasis i.e. the spreading that invade and damage tissues and organs in the surrounding. Sometimes, the cancerous cells are also transported by the bloodstream or by the lymphatic system to give rise to new tumors at other parts of the body, though the stomach wall, the lymph nodes nearby and organs making up the entire digestive system are the first ones to get affected, along with the colon, ovaries and even the lungs, making it tough to get the exact picture of the course of development and an appropriate treatment, tougher.

Stomach Cancer - A detailed Picture: The stomach comprises five different sections (the cardiac/proximal stomach, the fundus, the distal stomach (including antrum) and the body – the area between the proximal and distal stomach) and a total of five layers where the symptoms or the sign of stomach cancer are chiefly located. Prognosis, and then the treatment thus becomes difficult as the seeds are mostly sown in the mucosa (the innermost layer) and then the sub-mucosa, followed by the three others named muscularis, the subserosa and the serosa that take months, even years to sprout, bringing down survival rate up to quite some degree. The real picture also shows that stomach cancer, the disease per se usually initiates from certain pre-cancerous changes in these stomach linings that fail to deliver any symptoms and make early diagnosis an impossible phenomenon. The adenocarcinomas (malignant tumor originating in glandular epithelium) are the most abundant types in stomach cancer, followed by Lymphoma (cancer of the immune system tissue in the stomach wall), GIST (Gastrointestinal stomal tumors) and Carcinoid tumors, the latter being a rare occurrence (around 3%).

Stomach Cancer - The Treatment: Stomach cancer or gastric cancer mostly involves the symptom of an abnormal abdominal pain that also involves the colon, liver, pancreas and the small intestine at the later stages. All these factors culminate to different prognosis, different treatments and different rate survival. The treatment largely depends upon which among the four stages the disease is; however, the general health of the victim, the age and the level of fitness also plays a large part. Surgery is a good option if diagnosis occurs before metastasis; in case of advanced cancer, chemotherapy is preferred to relieve symptoms and slow down the spread. The other option for stomach cancer treatment is radiotherapy; though not a must and certainly not for stage three and four stomach cancer, but it prevents further attacks after a successful surgery and shrinks any existing tumor(s), thus reducing the pain or bleeding that remains associated.