Gastric Cancers
Cancer that forms in the tissues lining the stomach is called gastric cancer.
Risk Factors for Gastric Cancer
Some things that might raise your risk of gastric cancer include:
- A diet high in smoked and salted meats.
- Chronic stomach infection with a bacterium called helicobacter pylori
- Rare genetic syndromes
Gastric cancer is usually not hereditary.
Diagnosis
If you have gastric cancer, you might not have any symptoms in the early stages. People with early gastric cancer sometimes have mild abdominal (stomach) pain, nausea or heartburn. In later stages, gastric cancer can cause anemia (not enough iron in the blood), vomiting blood or blood in the stool (bowel movements).
To diagnose gastric cancer, a gastroenterologist or surgeon will use a small lighted tube to look inside the stomach. The doctor will take a small sample of tissue to test for signs of cancer.
Treatment Options
Our specialists will evaluate you to determine if you have gastric cancer and whether it has spread to other areas of the body. You will probably have tests that could include a CT scan and ultrasound of your stomach.
If you have gastric cancer, our multidisciplinary care team will work to create a personalized treatment plan for you. You will probably see a a surgical oncologist, a medical oncologist, and possibly a radiation oncologist, depending on your cancer and the treatment you need.
Treatment of early stage gastric cancer
If your gastric cancer is only in the wall of the stomach, or the stomach and some nearby lymph nodes, surgery is the most common treatment. The type of surgery you have will depend on the size of the tumor and where it is located inside the stomach.
Your doctor will take out some or all of the stomach. If the whole stomach is removed, we can create a new stomach pouch using tissue from your small intestine. Your surgeon will also take out lymph nodes around the stomach and nearby areas. This helps our experts determine how far your disease has spread and treat it as thoroughly as possible.
Studies have shown that you could do better if you have chemotherapy or chemotherapy and radiation after surgery. If you have chemotherapy, radiation or both, you might have these treatments before or after surgery depending on your individualized treatment plan.
Treatment of Advanced gastric cancer
Advanced gastric cancer has spread from the stomach to other organs such as the liver, lymph nodes far from the stomach, the lungs or the lining of the abdomen.If your cancer has spread, you will probably not have surgery. Your doctor will probably recommend chemotherapy to slow the growth of the tumor and help control symptoms. You might also have radiation treatment to control bleeding or a blockage in the stomach. If you have advanced gastric cancer, you are encouraged to participate in clinical trials, either through OHSU or other health centers that might be working with OHSU. Your doctor might be able to help you find a clinical trial that is right for you.
