How Do I Know If I Have Stomach Cancer?
Stomach cancer, also called gastric cancer, can be hard to identify. Watching for early signs that don't go away or get better and getting them checked out is the best way to know if you have it.
Your doctor will look for signs of stomach cancer if you're over the age of 55. But stomach cancer is actually most common in people who are in their 60s or 70s. Find out more about the symptoms for stomach cancer, how it's diagnosed, and which treatments can help.
What are symptoms for early stomach cancer?
Symptoms for stomach cancer can be different for everyone. Although men are more likely to develop stomach cancer, keep in mind that early signs are often vague. Early symptoms can look like:
- Indigestion or heartburn that lingers
- Pain in your belly
- Upper belly fullness below your chest bone after eating
- Difficulty swallowing
- Weight loss , without trying
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Loss of appetite
- Swelling in your belly
- Discomfort above your bellybutton
- Anemia (low red cells)
Your doctor may also identify signs of advanced stomach cancer. Although the signs can vary, they'll do a physical exam to check for advanced cancer, such as:
- Enlarged lymph nodes or liver
- Higher amounts of fluid in the abdomen (ascites)
- Bumps (nodules) in or under the skin of the abdomen
How Is Stomach Cancer Diagnosed?
If you complain of vague symptoms that aren't going away or getting worse, your doctor will order tests.
Upper GI series
These are X-rays of the esophagus (food tube) and stomach, which is called the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract. You drink a barium solution, which outlines the stomach on the X-ray, helping the doctor see tumors or other abnormalities.
Endoscopy and biopsy
This test looks at your esophagus and stomach using a thin, lighted tube called an endoscope. It goes in your mouth and into the stomach. Through the endoscope, your doctor can look directly at the inside of your stomach. If an abnormal area is found, your doctor can remove some tissue to look at under a microscope (called a biopsy). A biopsy is the only sure way to diagnose cancer. Endoscopy and biopsy are the best methods of identifying stomach cancer.
CT scan
A computed tomography (CT) scan can give your doctor detailed pictures of structures inside of the body using X-rays. This test is used after a stomach cancer is diagnosed in order to determine the stage of the cancer. To evaluate whether the tumor has spread to the lymph nodes or other organs, the chest, abdomen, and pelvis are scanned. The CT scan can also detect fluid in the abdomen (ascites) as well as abdominal and pelvic nodules.
Endoscopic ultrasound
This test can determine the depth of invasion of the tumor and evaluate lymph nodes around the cancer.
Additional staging tests
In order to determine the severity or spread of the stomach cancer, other tests such as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), chest x-ray,a bone scan, PET scan, or laparoscopy may be performed.
What Are the Treatments for Stomach Cancer?
Treatments for stomach cancer may include one or more of the following:
Surgery
Gastrectomy removes all or part of your stomach, as well as some of the tissue surrounding the stomach. Lymph nodes near your stomach are also taken out and biopsied to check for cancer cells. For stage zero through stage 3 stomach cancer, surgery can give you a real chance for a cure.
Chemotherapy
Your doctor uses anticancer medicines before and after surgery. They may also use chemo to treat your cancer if it has spread to other organs. Prior to surgery, chemotherapy -- with or without radiation or immunotherapy -- is sometimes used to shrink the tumor or to make an inoperable tumor easier to take out, called neo-adjuvant therapy.
There's also a type of chemo called regional chemotherapy. You're doctor places the chemotherapy medicines directly into your stomach and abdomen so the cancer cells are impacted most.
Radiation therapy
Uses ionizing X-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. This is used with chemotherapy before or after surgery, and sometimes both. It can also be used to relieve symptoms if your cancer is localized --- hasn't spread to other parts of your body. Your doctor may also use radiation to ease localized symptoms if your cancer has spread to another part of your body.
Targeted therapy
These medicines directly target the changes in cancer cells to stop them from growing. Your doctor may give you these medicines alone or along with chemo. It just depends on the type of treatment you need. These medicines can often target certain gene changes in the cancer cells.
Immunotherapy
These medicines help your immune system find and kill the cancer cells. Most of these medications block the PD-1 protein on cancer cells which normally helps keep your immune system from killing them. After the PD-1 protein is blocked on the stomach cancer cells, your immune system can destroy them.
With treatment, how long can I live with stomach cancer?
If treated at an early stage before it spreads, you can live a long time with stomach cancer. After your tumor is removed completely, there's a good chance of living at least five years.
But doctors don't regularly screen for stomach cancer and the tests aren't straight forward. Without a simple blood test or easy way to check, many times stomach cancer isn't diagnosed right off. That can mean that the cancer has spread to local lymph nodes or other organs by the time it's diagnosed.
About 35% of people will live for five years if they were diagnosed with locally advanced stomach cancer --- the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes or structures.
Only about 7% of people will live for five years if they were diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer --- the cancer has spread to distant organs.
Learning to live with cancer can come with some challenges. Talk to your doctor about a survivorship care plan. It's a great way to know about follow-up exams, tests, and ask questions about how to manage long-term cancer medication side effects.
Try to write your questions down and talk openly about any concerns or problems that you may have. Your cancer care team is there to help.
