Stomach Cancer: Diagnostic Tests and Treatment Options

Cancer is a dreadful term that refers to a condition of uncontrolled growth of cells in the body. This makes the cells in any part of your body become cancerous and can then spread to other body parts. Stomach cancer is cancer that begins in the stomach. The name commonly knows it of gastric cancer. The stomach refers to the pouch-like organ that helps in the storage, processing, and digestion of food. Stomach cancer is amongst one of the most common types of cancer,r and ranks fifth most common cancer that develops the course of several years. 

When it comes to stomach cancer, there are several types such as adenocarcinoma, carcinoid tumors, lymphoma, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Some of the common symptoms one may experience while suffering from stomach cancer are frequent heartburn, difficulty in swallowing, fatigue, loss of appetite, and abdominal fullness. 

Other symptoms linked with stomach cancer

Symptoms of early-stage: At an early stage of stomach cancer, you may experience certain symptoms such as bloating, feeling of fullness very easily, loss of appetite, heartburn, stomach discomfort, mild nausea, indigestion, or frequent loose motion.

Symptoms of advanced-stage cancer: when stomach cancer has reached advanced level one may experiences symptoms like blood in the stool, jaundice, trouble swallowing, stomach pain, vomiting, weight loss and fluid accumulation in the abdomen. 

Risk factors of stomach cancer

Following are the major risk factors of stomach cancer

• The risk of suffering from stomach cancer increases several times in case of medical issues. Such as infection of the stomach, Intestinal metaplasia, pernicious anemia, inflammation of the stomach and familial adenomatous polyposis or gastric polyps.

•  The risk of stomach cancer is also high when the person takes a diet containing excessive salt, processed foods, red meat, and deficient in fruits and vegetables.

•  If you are a regular smoker and consume a lot of alcohol, you could also be at a higher risk of developing stomach cancer. 

• In case any of your family members previously suffered from stomach cancer, then you are at a higher risk of developing this condition. 

How to diagnose stomach cancer?

Following are the diagnostic tests for stomach cancer

Barium swallow: in this type of diagnostic test, a fluid containing barium is given to the person orally prior to an X-ray procedure. The liquid then creates a coating over the esophagus and stomach which then allows taking an X-ray for the successful diagnosis of the stage of cancer. 

Upper endoscopy: In this type of cancer with the help of an endoscope the view of abnormal areas of stomach, duodenum, or esophagus is taken by passing this equipment down through the throat and esophagus into the stomach.  

CT scan: This diagnostic measure takes illustrated pictures of parts of the stomach, and other areas that are taken from various angles, and the pictures are taken on a computer linked to an x-ray machine. The name also knows CT scan procedure of computerized tomography, or computed tomography

Biopsy: Biopsy is carried out with the removal of cells or tissues and then viewed under a microscope for figuring out the signs of stomach cancer. 

Blood tests: Blood sample are another important diagnostic measures that tell amounts of the bout the certain substances released into the blood by tissues present in the stomach.

Treatment options for stomach cancer

Chemotherapy: in this method of stomach cancer treatment medicines are used to inhibit the growth of cancer cells which is accomplished by blocking their growth or killing of the cancerous cells. 

Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy in stomach cancer treatment makes use of high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation that kills cancer cells or prevent the growth of these cells. 

Surgery: Surgery is often the last resort to remove stomach cancer with the removal of either a small part of the stomach affected by cancer or complete removal of the stomach. The type of surgery is mostly dependent on the growth of the cancer cells.  

Targeted therapy: in this type of treatment, certain medicines are used for identifying and targeting specific cancer cells. This treatment does not result in any side effects on healthy or undamaged cells.