Stomach Cancer and Diseases

“Around 900,000 people die each year from stomach cancer around the world.”

Reasons

Stomach cancer, in which dietary habits play an important role, is more common in places where excessive salt consumption and intake of vegetables and fruits are insufficient. Burnt or undercooked red meat consumption is among these reasons. People with smoking, Helicobacter pylori infection, overweight, and a family history of stomach cancer are at higher risk of stomach cancer. Especially patients in this risk group should definitely have an endoscopy.

Symptoms

• Half of the patients can feel a mass on palpation.
• Pain in the stomach area and a feeling that the stomach is heavier
• Loss of appetite and consequent weight loss (severe and short-lived)
• Discomfort and stomach swelling after eating
• Nausea, vomiting,
• Most of the people with stomach cancer also experience anemia.
  Tiredness,
• Bleeding in the stomach or intestines (may progress latently).

Diagnosis

The most accurate method of diagnosis is endoscopy. Both the location and size of the tumor are determined and a biopsy is taken. Biopsy is indispensable for a definitive diagnosis. Tumors can be seen with barium gastric radiography, but it is not sufficient to make a definitive diagnosis. Staging TNM classification is used. Computed tomography, PET CT and MR can be used for this purpose.

Treatment

Surgical intervention is the most important and determinative treatment measure in stomach cancer. No treatment method can replace the procedure performed properly. Especially early gastric cancers can be completely treated with only surgery. Laparoscopic surgery (closed surgical method) performed by experienced physicians, on the other hand, provides equally successful results and has serious advantages such as less pain, standing up immediately, less infection and hernia risk. In addition, chemotherapy (drug therapy) and in some cases radiation therapy (radiotherapy) are also applied.