"My mother was diagnosed with stage IV stomach cancer. She had a full physical exam every year. She had all the symptoms, looking back. She had protein in her urine, but they kept checking her kidneys. She had indigestion and nausea. She lost weight and finally could not eat. She was very anemic even though she got B12 shots every two weeks. This is a very evil disease. It doesn't get much press, but it is out there. Surgery and chemo did not help; it was too late for her. We believe that her mother died of it in 1950. I have met many people, all ages and nationalities, that have it and died."
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The stomach
The stomach is a hollow organ in the upper abdomen, under the ribs.
It's part of the digestive system. Food moves from the mouth through the esophagus to the stomach. In the stomach, the food becomes liquid. Muscles in the stomach wall push the liquid into the small intestine.
The wall of the stomach has five layers:
Inner layer or lining (mucosa): Juices made by glands in the inner layer help digest food. Most stomach cancers begin in this layer.
Submucosa: This is the support tissue for the inner layer.
Muscle layer: Muscles in this layer contract to mix and mash the food.
Subserosa: This is the support tissue for the outer layer.
Outer layer (serosa): The outer layer covers the stomach. It holds the stomach in place.
Understanding cancer
Cancer begins in cells, the building blocks that make up tissues. Tissues make up the organs of the body.
Normally, cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old, they die, and new cells take their place.
Sometimes, this process goes wrong. New cells form when the body does not need
them, and old or damaged cells do not die as they should. The buildup of extra cells
often forms a mass of tissue called a growth, polyp, or tumor.
Tumors in the stomach can be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer).
Benign tumors are not as harmful as malignant tumors:
Benign tumors:
are rarely a threat to life
can be removed and usually don't
grow back
don't invade the tissues around them
don't spread to other parts of
the body
Malignant tumors:
may be a threat to life
often can be removed but
sometimes grow back
can invade and damage nearby organs and tissues
can spread
to other parts of the body
Stomach cancer usually begins in cells in the inner
layer of the stomach. Over time, the cancer may invade more deeply into the
stomach wall. A stomach tumor can grow through the stomach's outer layer into
nearby organs, such as the liver, pancreas, esophagus, or intestine.
Stomach cancer cells can spread by breaking away from the original tumor.
They enter blood vessels or lymph vessels, which branch into all the tissues of
the body. The cancer cells may be found in lymph nodes near the stomach. The
cancer cells may attach to other tissues and grow to form new tumors that may
damage those tissues.
The spread of cancer is called metastasis. See the Staging section for
information about stomach cancer that has spread.
Abdominal pain is pain in the belly and can be acute or chronic. Causes include inflammation, distention of an organ, and loss of the blood supply to an organ. Abdominal pain can reflect a major problem with one of the organs in the abdomen such as the appendix, gallbladder, large and small intestine, pancreas, liver, colon, duodenum, and spleen.
Anemia is the condition of having less than the normal number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. The oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood is, therefore, decreased.
Lymph nodes help the body's immune system fight infections. Causes of swollen lymph nodes (glands) may include infection (viral, bacterial, fungal, parasites). Symptoms of swollen lymph nodes vary greatly. They can sometimes be tender, painful or disfiguring. The treatment of swollen lymph nodes depends upon the cause.
Nausea is an uneasiness of the stomach that often precedes vomiting. Nausea and vomiting are not diseases, but they are symptoms of many conditions. The causes of vomiting differ according to age, and treatment depends upon the cause of nausea and vomiting.
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a bacterium that causes chronic inflammation (gastritis) of the inner lining of the stomach in humans. This bacteria also is the most common cause of ulcers worldwide.
A peptic ulcer is an ulcer in the lining of the stomach, duodenum, or esophagus. Ulcer formation is related to Helicobacter pylori bacteria in the stomach, use of anti-inflammatory medications, and cigarette smoking.
Ascites, the accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity is most commonly caused by cirrhosis of the liver. Some of the other causes of ascites include portal hypertension, congestive heart failure, blood clots, and pancreatitis. The most common symptoms include increased abdominal girth and size, abdominal bloating, and abdominal pain. Treatment depends on the cause of ascites.
Cancer is a disease caused by an abnormal growth of cells, also called malignancy. It is a group of 100 different diseases, and is not contagious. Cancer can be treated through chemotherapy, a treatment of drugs that destroy cancer cells.
Pernicious anemia is a blood disorder in which the body does not make enough red blood cells due to a lack of vitamin B12 in the blood. Pernicious anemia can develop from a lack of a protein that helps the body absorb vitamin B12, not getting enough B12 in the diet, and certain intestinal conditions that interfere with the absorption of vitamin B12 such as Crohn's disease, celiac sprue, or ulcerative colitis. There is no cure for pernicious anemia, thus treatment is life-long.
Gastritis is an inflammation of the stomach lining. Causes of gastritis include drinking too much alcohol, medications such as NSAIDs, ibuprofen, aspirin, H. pylori infection, severe infections, burns, anemia, and autoimmune disorders. Gastritis is diagnosed with endoscopy, blood tests, or stool tests. Treatment depends upon the cause of gastritis.
Smoking is an addiction. More than 430,000 deaths occur each year in the U.S. from smoking related illnesses. Secondhand smoke or "passive smoke" also harm family members, coworkers, and others around smokers. There are a number of techniques available to assist people who want to quit smoking.
Though it's difficult to say why some people develop cancer while others don't, research shows that certain risk factors increase a person's odds of developing cancer. These risk factors include growing older, family history of cancer, diet, alcohol and tobacco use, and exposure to sunlight, ionizing radiation, certain chemicals, and some viruses and bacteria.
Digestion is the complex process of turning food you eat into the energy you need to survive. The digestive process also involves creating waste to be eliminated, and is made of a series of muscles that coordinate the movement of food.
Anemia is a medical condition in which the red blood cell count
or hemoglobin is less than normal. The normal level of hemoglobin is generally
different in males and females. For men, anemia is typically defined as
hemoglobin level of less than 13.5 gram/100ml and in women as hemoglobin of less
than 12.0 gram/100ml. These definitions may vary slightly depending on the
source and the laboratory reference used.
What causes anemia?
Any process that can disrupt the normal life span of a red blood cell may cause anemia. Normal life span of a red blood cell is typically around 120 days. Red blood cells are made in the bone marrow.
Anemia is caused essentially through two basic pathways. Anemia is either caused:
by a decrease in production of red blood cell or hemoglobin, or
by a loss or destruction of blood.
As more common classifications of anemia (low hemoglo...
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