What is stomach cancer?
Stomach cancer is caused by cell changes in the lining of the stomach and may cause bleeding. It is more common in men than in women. The number of people getting stomach cancer has fallen significantly in the last 40 years.
It is an extremely serious condition which must be diagnosed early on if treatment is to work well. If untreated it can spread to the entire stomach and into the bloodstream and the liver.
This can happen quite quickly so it is difficult to treat unless it is picked up early.

What causes stomach cancer?
Conditions such as gastritis, pernicious anaemia, gastric polyps and gastric ulcers are believed to be contributing factors. Other things that can contribute to developing stomach cancer are:
Injury to the stomach’s mucosal lining
A person’s diet
Family history.

What are the symptoms of stomach cancer?
Symptoms usually only develop once the disease has spread beyond the stomach. Stomach cancer is very rare in people under 40 years old. The sooner the cancer is detected, the better the survival chances. Symptoms of stomach cancer include:
Loss of appetite
Unexplained weight loss
Pain when eating, as the tumour grows through the stomach wall
Persistent indigestion
Vomiting, including vomiting blood, due to obstruction of the oesophagus (passage between the mouth and stomach) by the tumour
Chronic fatigue.
Feeling full after eating very little.
Blood in the stool.

What is the treatment for stomach cancer?
As with all cancers, treatment of stomach cancer depends on where the tumour is, its size and whether or not it has spread.
If the disease is diagnosed before it reaches the lymph nodes and before it reaches the layer of muscle beneath the lining of the stomach, it is curable in 90% of cases.
If the tumour makes it difficult for someone to eat food, tubes are used to prevent malnutrition and dehydration.
Surgery may be required to remove part of the stomach. In some cases the accompanying lymph nodes have to be removed.
More advanced tumours require radiation therapy.
Although chemotherapy is sometimes used to treat stomach cancer, it is not used very often because it will only benefit a minority of patients.

Symptoms that always need medical advice
Unexplained weight loss
Loss of appetite
Difficulty swallowing
Vomiting blood or anything that looks like ground coffee
Bowel motions that contain blood - this makes your stools look tarry
Indigestion when taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

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