Stomach cancer treatment largely depends on the stage the disease has reached. Surgery is an option any stage.

The purpose of surgery may be

* to remove the cancer itself, or
* to relieve discomfort from the symptoms of cancer.

The first step is normally a CT scan or a laparoscopy. This will help your doctor determine the stage.

However, it may be impossible to determine the stage without surgery because specimens may need to be taken from the stomach. But your doctor may not be able to tell you exactly how far the cancer has progressed with a lab analysis, and that requires getting a surgical sample from the stomach itself. A pathologist looks at the specimen under a microscope and makes a judgment which give the most accurate measure of the cancer stage.

Stomach cancer can sometimes be cured by removing the cancerous part of the stomach. The percentage of the stomach that will be removed depends of course, on where the tumor is located and how big it has grown.

A subtotal gastrectomy is a common surgical treatment for stomach cancer. This is when surgeon removes a part of the stomach, and possibly some lymph nodes. The procedure might also include removing the spleen.

If the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or to the liver, you may also need chemotherapy.

In some cases, surgery is performed to relieve symptoms. The goal is to give the patient a better quality of life for as long as possible. Surgery of this kind is typical if the tumor has blocked the entrance or exit areas of the stomach.

An important part of stomach cancer treatment is determining if the Helicobacter pylori bacterium is present in the stomach. Helicobacter pylori, which is also known as H. pylori, appears to be a cancer-causing agent. It's believed this bacterium damages the DNA in the cells of the stomach lining, which may eventually lead to a tumor. If H. pylori is discovered during the course of surgery, the doctor may prescribe an aggressive antibiotic therapy to kill it.

If the disease has reached an advanced stage, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy may be necessary in addition to surgery. Chemotherapy is intended to kill cancer cells or prevent them form dividing and growing. It can be done orally or intravenously. It can also be accomplished or by directly introducing the chemotherapy compounds into the spine, organs, abdominal cavity.

Chemoradiation, which is also called adjuvant therapy, combines radiation with chemotherapy.

There's a growing body of research into stomach cancer treatment. Some treatment regimens are considered standard, while others are experimental.

As always, it's best to work closely with a physician to determine the best possible course of treatment.

Ask a question, offer a tip to others about stomach by visiting the The Stomach Health Forum.

For more information on topics related to this article, click on Stomach Cancer.

George McKenzie is a retired TV anchor, medical reporter and radio talk show host. He is a frequent contributor to Health Information Articles, a resource site about health and wellness.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_McKenzie

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Stomach cancer is a disease in which tumors are found in the stomach. If it is not diagnosed quickly, it may spread to other parts of your stomach as well as to other organs. Research indicates that more than 25,000 Americans are diagnosed with stomach cancer every year. Also, more than 13,000 Americans die from this disease annually. There are twice as many males with this disease than females.

The majority of people with stomach cancer are between fifty and seventy years old. It is more prevalent in Japan, Korea, Great Britain, South America and Iceland than in the United States. There are ten times as many cases in Japan than in the United States. Contrary to these other countries, the number of cases in the United States has decreased over time.

The precise cause of stomach cancer has so far eluded researchers. But risk factors have been identified that will increase your chances of developing this disease. Research has shown that diets high in salt and nitrites can increase your chances of developing stomach cancer. There are a smaller number of cases among native Japanese people who moved to the United States and adopted the diets of Americans in comparison to those who stayed in Japan and continued with the Japanese diet.

There are a high number of cases among people who work as coal miners or who work processing timber, nickel and rubber. People who are exposed to the bacterium Helicobacter pylori have developed lymphomas in the stomach. Polyps (benign growths) that develop in your stomach have the potential to become cancerous. Other risk factors include a family history of the disease, stomach surgery for ulcers and pernicious anemia. If you want to lower your chances of developing this disease, you can try avoiding some of these risk factors. You can also try adding fruits and vegetables to your diet. The American Cancer Society recommends that you eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

During the early stages of stomach cancer, you should expect to see either no symptoms at all or very nonspecific symptoms. Some of these symptoms include indigestion, heartburn, mild discomfort and mild nausea. In the early stages, the tumor is small and has not spread (metastasized). In the late stages, the symptoms are more distinct and include abdominal pain, constipation, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue and blood in the stool.

By the time these distinct symptoms occur, the cancer can metastasize to other organs in the body, such as the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, liver, small intestine or colon. Unfortunately, this occurs to eight to ninety percent of stomach cancer patients. This is one of the reasons for its poor prognosis. Patients who are diagnosed in the early stages have a seventy five percent chance of surviving for at least five years and those who are diagnosed in the late stages have a less than thirty percent chance. A stomach virus or ulcer can also cause some of these symptoms. If you think that you have might have some of these symptoms, you should see a gastroenterologist or an oncologist immediately to get the correct diagnosis.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Stomach Cancer

source:users.search-o-rama.com

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By: Rudy Silva

Your stomach always knows what it has to do to keep you healthy and free of disease. It does this by changing conditions in your stomach to accommodate how you eat, what you eat and when you eat it. Diseases like heartburn or acid reflux and just stomach upsets occur when you eat a poor diet or eat improperly. This causes your stomach to distort its functions and in this process distorts the function of the surround valves which control the movement of food moving in and out of the your stomach.

Here’s how your stomach works. The HCl acid in your stomach likes to be at strength of between a pH of 1 to 3. A hormone called “Gastrin” maintains this acid strength. When your stomach acid becomes weak, a pH above 3, “G cells” in the lining of your stomach release Gastrin. The gastrin hormone activates “parietal cells, also located in the stomach lining, to release HCl acid. As more acid is pumped into the stomach, the pH drops down below 3 which signals the G cells to decrease or stop the release of gastrin.

When food comes into your stomach it is usually a pH of 6-7. This causes your G cells to pump out gastrin so that the stomach lining can inject HCl into your stomach to start breaking down your food and to lower the pH back to 2-3.

Gastrin also controls the stomach muscles. It controls the stomach contractions, which move your stomach contents back and forth. When the food has been mixed and broken down, the contractions move the food into the duodenum and small intestine.

When your stomach excretes high levels of gastrin, a condition called hypergastrinemia, you become more susceptible to stomach cancer. How can excess gastrin be excreted? Excess gastrin can be excreted when your stomach wall is thinned, nonfunctional, or atrophied. And, excess gastrin can also be excreted when you take an acid blocker drug like Prilosec when you have heartburn, acid reflux or GERD.

If you block the creation of HCl with a drug during your meal, your stomach is signaled to release gastrin to produce more acid. Since a drug is blocking acid creation, the G cells believe that not enough acid is being released into the stomach so more gastrin is released.

Taking a 20 mg of Prilosec can result in the production of 3 to 4 times more gastrin. When you take more Prilosec, 40 – 60 mg, this can result in 10 times more gastrin than needed. Long-term use of Prilosec put you at risk for stomach cancer.

Now, you can see how just one drug when used to excess can create an even worst disease then the one it is trying to prevent or cure, when it is used for a long time. For this reason it is best to look for natural ways to deal with heartburn, acid reflux, or stomach distress. Correcting your diet and using natural remedies can help to cure your stomach problems and will keep you away from stomach cancer.

Article Source: http://www.kokkada.com

Rudy Silva, Natural Nutritionist, has just created a special report on how you can eliminate and cure your gastroesophageal reflux disease, heartburn, or acid reflux, using diet and natural remedies. Go here to discover how you can stop acid reflux: www.nutritiondiet7.com/acidreflux/www.acidreflux-relief.info or at www.acidheartburnreflux.com To get more tips and information on acid reflux go here:

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