Stomach Health
Stomach Health
Stomach Cancer
Overview
Stomach cancer or gastric cancer can start anywhere in the stomach and usually begins in the stomach lining. This type is called adenocarcinoma. Stomach cancer is the 3rd most common cancer in men and 4th most common cancer in India*.
- Cancer in the gastroesophageal junction, which is the meeting point of the top of the stomach and the esophagus is becoming increasingly common.
- At the same time, the rate of cancer in the main part of the stomach has been decreasing.
Risk Factors
- An Unhealthy Diet which lacks in sufficient quantity of fruits and vegetables, is high in salt content, high in processed red and processed meat and smoked food may increase risk for stomach cancer
- Tobacco consumption in any form, whether smoked or smokeless.
- Excessive alcohol consumption increases risk not only for stomach cancer but multiple other diseases
- Helicobacter pylori , a bacteria commonly found in the stomach and duodenum has been established as the root cause of most of the stomach ulcers and gastritis. Antibiotics can treat an infection.
- Certain Medical Conditions such as long-term inflammation of the stomach, anemia due to vitamin B12 deficiency, stomach polyps, obesity may increase the risk of stomach cancer.
- Toxins in foods like groundnuts contaminated with a fungus called aflatoxin may increase the risk of stomach cancer.
- Age above 75 increases risk for stomach cancer
- Men are at double the risk as compared to women
- Certain genetic conditions such as family history, especially in the first degree, Blood Group A, and certain inherited syndromes such as Fraumeni syndrome and Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP)
Stages of Stomach Cancer
Stomach cancer has 5 stages:
Stage 0 or Carcinoma in situ:Abnormal cells or cancerous cells are limited to the stomach lining, where they started and have not spread elsewhere.
Stage I: Cancer is contained in the top limited to the top layer of tissue that lines the inside of the stomach. The Cancer cells may have also spread to 1-2 nearby lymph nodes.
Stage II:Cancer has spread from the lining to the stomach muscles and can be found in nearby lymph nodes as well.
Stage III:Cancer may have grown through all the layers of the stomach and spread nearby or affected lymph nodes more extensively.
Stage IV:Cancer has spread to the distant areas of the body.
Screening for Stomach Cancer
While there are no routine screening tests for Stomach cancer, an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is one way of studying the stomach for abnormalities.
