People with advanced stomach cancer
may develop a tumor that blocks the passage of food through the digestive tract.
Your health care team may suggest one or more of the following options:
Stent: The doctor uses an endoscope to place a stent (a tube made of metal
mesh or plastic) in your intestine. Food and liquid can pass through the center
of the tube.
Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy may help shrink the tumor that
is blocking the intestine.
Laser therapy: A laser is a concentrated beam of
intense light that kills tissue with heat. The doctor uses an endoscope to place
the laser in your digestive tract. The laser destroys the cancer cells blocking
the digestive tract.
Pain
Cancer and its treatments may cause pain. Your health care team or a pain
control specialist can suggest ways to relieve or reduce pain. Radiation therapy
and pain medicine may help.
Follow-up care
You'll need regular checkups after treatment for stomach cancer. Checkups
help ensure that any changes in your health are noted and treated if needed. If
you have any health problems between checkups, you should contact your doctor.
Your doctor will check for return of the cancer. Also, checkups help detect
health problems that can result from cancer treatment.
Checkups may include a physical exam, blood tests, x-rays, CT scans,
endoscopy, or other tests. If you had surgery on the stomach, your doctor may
order blood tests to check the levels of certain vitamins and minerals, such as
vitamin B12, calcium, and iron.
Sources of support
Learning that you have stomach cancer can change your life and the lives of
those close to you. These changes can be hard to handle. It's normal for you,
your family, and your friends to need help coping with the feelings that such a
diagnosis can bring.
Concerns about treatments and managing side effects, hospital stays, and
medical bills are common. You may also worry about caring for your family,
keeping your job, or continuing daily activities.
Here's where you can go for support:
Doctors, nurses, and other members of your health care team can answer
questions about treatment, working, or other activities.
Social workers,
counselors, or members of the clergy can be helpful if you want to talk about
your feelings or concerns. Often, social workers can suggest resources for
financial aid, transportation, home care, or emotional support.
Support groups
also can help. In these groups, people with stomach cancer or their family
members meet with other patients or their families to share what they have
learned about coping with the disease and the effects of treatment. Groups may
offer support in person, over the telephone, or on the Internet. You may want to
talk with a member of your health care team about finding a support group.
Information specialists at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) and at LiveHelp (http://www.cancer.gov/help)
can help you locate programs, services, and publications. They can send you a
list of organizations that offer services to people with cancer.
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.
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