Stomach Cancer

Overview

Symptoms

Your physicians may diagnose your stomach cancer late in its progression. That's because you may not have had specific symptoms at first. Late-stage stomach cancer may cause you trouble with eating. It may also lead you to feel uncomfortable or in pain. If you do have symptoms, they may include:

• Stomach pain
• Severe heartburn
• Weight loss
• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Vomiting

Stomach Cancer Risk Factors

Some factors that put you at higher risk for stomach cancer include:

• Stomach polyps
• Anemia
• Stomach inflammation
• H. Pylori
• Smoking
• Family history of stomach cancer
• High sodium diet
• Obesity
• Diet low in fresh fruits and vegetables
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

Treatment

Your team will coordinate your care—arranging your tests and appointments with a variety of physicians who treat stomach cancer.

Your physicians will offer treatments to ease your symptoms and deliver palliative care services to improve your quality of life. Your treatment options may include chemotherapy, surgery, radiation therapy or even clinical trials.

As Indiana's only cancer center with National Cancer Institute designation, we partner with the Indiana University School of Medicine to give you access to leading edge treatments and innovative cancer research.

Physicians at IU Health offer several treatment plans for stomach cancer. Treatment depends on the specific type of cancer and its location within the stomach. It also depends on whether or not the cancer has spread to other organs or your lymphatic system.

For surgical treatment, your surgeon may use laparoscopy and other types of minimally invasive surgery to treat your stomach cancer. These treatments reduce the risk of infection and speed up recovery times. A general surgeon often performs the operation. If the cancer involves the esophagus, a thoracic (chest) surgeon may perform your surgery. Surgeries for stomach cancer include:

• Total gastrectomy removes the entire stomach.
• Distal gastrectomy removes of the lower part of the stomach.
• Cancer staging. During surgery, we also remove the fatty omentum and adjacent lymph nodes to determine the stage of cancer and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

Research

The National Cancer Institute designation at IU Health and our partnership with the Indiana University School of Medicine puts us at the forefront of researching the latest treatments and surgeries for stomach cancer.

IU Health Simon Cancer Center physicians have significant experience in the use of aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments. These treatments are for select patients with advanced cancer who might be turned down for curative treatments elsewhere. This may include participation in clinical trials for stomach cancer and services to make it easier to manage your condition.

IU Health physicians also investigate the use of minimally invasive surgery to speed recovery time and reduce downtime between surgery and post-operative chemotherapy and radiation.