General Surgery Specialist Prof. Dr. Fahri Yetişir gave information about the subject. General Surgery Specialist Prof. Dr. Fahri Yetişir gave information about the subject. What is stomach cancer? What are the symptoms of stomach cancer? What are the causes of stomach cancer? What are the risk factors for stomach cancer? What can be done to prevent stomach cancer? How is stomach cancer diagnosed? What are the stomach cancer treatment methods?
After the food is crushed and ground in the mouth, it comes to our stomach through the esophagus. The stomach is an organ that contains three separate rows of strong muscle fibers and its inner surface is covered with mucous membranes. It mixes the food that comes into the stomach with the liquid with high acid content, kneads it well with strong muscle fibers and turns it into a soup called chyme. With this high acid content, it protects us against most microorganisms that are taken with food.
What is stomach cancer?
Gastric cancer usually occurs from the mucous layer on the inner surface of the stomach and is called adenocarcinoma.
What are the symptoms of stomach cancer?
Stomach cancers usually show late symptoms. Although the signs and symptoms of gastric cancer vary somewhat depending on the location of the cancer, the main symptoms are as follows.
- Weakness, feeling bloated after eating, feeling full after eating a small amount of food
- Heartburn and pain, severe indigestion, nausea and vomiting, unexplained weight loss
What are the causes of stomach cancer?
As in most cancers, gastric cancer begins when an error (mutation) occurs in the DNA of the cancer cell nucleus. This mutation causes the cell to lose control and to grow and multiply rapidly. Accumulating cancer cells invade nearby structures and form tumors. Later, cancer cells can leave the tumor and spread to other tissues to spread throughout the body.
What are the risk factors for stomach cancer?
Stomach cancer is more common in people with reflux disease, overweight and smokers. There is a strong correlation between diets rich in smoked and pickled foods and stomach cancer. A diet poor in fruits and vegetables. Eating food contaminated with a fungus called aflatoxin. A family history of gastric cancer, Helicobacter pylori infection, long-term gastroenteritis, pernicious anemia, and gastric polyps are also risk factors.
What can be done to prevent stomach cancer?
Regular exercise, eating more fruits and vegetables, not smoking, and reducing the consumption of salty and smoked foods reduce the risk of stomach cancer.
How is stomach cancer diagnosed?
A thin tube-shaped camera (endoscopy) is entered through the mouth, entered into the stomach, and directly visualized, and if necessary, a small piece of tissue can be taken (biopsy). Imaging methods such as ultrasound, tomography and MRI can also be used to diagnose.
How to determine the spread (stage) of stomach cancer?
Staging is very important because treatment is planned accordingly. CT and positron emission tomography (PET) may often be included after a good physical examination to stage gastric cancer. It can be used in other tests if necessary. If it is caught at an early stage, treatment has a better chance of being successful and surviving the cancer.
What are the stomach cancer treatment methods?
The treatment options you have for stomach cancer depend on the stage of your cancer, your general health, and your preferences.
Surgery: The goal of stomach cancer surgery is to remove all of the stomach cancer and, if possible, some healthy tissue around it and the lymphatics of the stomach. Removal of part of the stomach (subtotal gastrectomy). Removal of the entire stomach (total gastrectomy).
Radiation therapy: In stomach cancer, radiation therapy may be used before surgery to shrink the tumor so that the tumor can be removed more easily. (neoadjuvant radiation). Radiation therapy may also be used after surgery (adjuvant radiation) to kill any cancer cells that may have remained around your stomach.
Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses chemicals to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy drugs travel throughout the body, killing cancer cells that may have spread beyond the stomach. Chemotherapy can be used before or after surgery. Chemotherapy is often combined with radiation therapy.
Drugs used in targeted therapy: Targeted therapy uses drugs that attack specific spots on cancer cells or direct your immune system to kill cancer cells (immunotherapy). Targeted drugs are often used in combination with standard chemotherapy drugs.
Supportive (palliative) care: Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on relieving pain and other symptoms of serious illness. Palliative care can be used when receiving aggressive treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Researchers around the world have focused on increasing the effectiveness of targeted therapies to eradicate cancer.
There are two things we can do about stomach cancer; The first is to keep ourselves away from the risk factors that cause stomach cancer as much as possible. Secondly, to have the opportunity to be diagnosed early by applying to the doctor as soon as the symptoms appear.
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