Percent means how many out of If stomach cancer is found before it has spread, the 5-year survival rate is generally higher but depends on the stage of the cancer found during surgery. It is important to remember that statistics on the survival rates for people with stomach cancer are an estimate. The estimate comes from annual data based on the number of people with this cancer in the United States. Also, experts measure the survival statistics every 5 years. So the estimate may not show the results of better diagnosis or treatment available for less than 5 years.
Talk with your doctor if you have any questions about this information. Learn more about understanding statistics. The next section in this guide is Medical Illustrations. It offers drawings of the body parts often affected by stomach cancer. This can help ease bleeding and pain.
If tumors in the lower part of the stomach are preventing food from passing, gastric bypass surgery may be an option. In this procedure, part of the small intestine is attached to the upper part of the stomach, bypassing the tumors, and allowing food to flow out of the stomach. Sometimes, stomach cancer makes it difficult to eat. If that happens, a feeding tube can be surgically inserted through the skin into the stomach so you can get the nutrients you need.
Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment, meaning it can treat tumors throughout your body. Chemotherapy drugs can help shrink tumors, relieve symptoms, and prolong life. Radiation therapy is a targeted treatment, meaning it can be directed at specific tumors. It can help shrink the tumors, stop bleeding, and relieve pain. Targeted drug therapy can be used to treat advanced stomach cancer. These drugs attack specific characteristics of the cancer. Some of these are:.
Immunotherapy drugs boost your immune system to help attack cancer. These trials can offer groundbreaking new treatments. Eligibility rules are usually quite specific, so ask your doctor about trials that might be a good fit for you.
Because stomach cancer can interfere with eating and how food flows through your digestive system, it can lead to malnutrition. Consider working with a nutritionist who can help you get the most out of your diet. Your doctor may also prescribe dietary supplements, pain relievers, or other medications to help you deal with a variety of symptoms.
This means how big it is and whether it has spread. The type of cancer and grade of the cancer cells can also affect your survival. Grade means how abnormal the cells look under the microscope. Your general health and fitness also affect survival, the fitter you are, the better you may be able to cope with your cancer and treatment. The terms 1 year survival and 5 year survival don't mean that you will only live for 1 or 5 years. They watch what happens to people with cancer in the years after their diagnosis.
But some people live much longer than this. For more in-depth information about survival and stomach cancer, go to our Cancer Statistics section. There is support available to help you cope during and after stomach cancer treatment. This includes diet tips to help you eat well. Stomach cancer is cancer that starts anywhere inside the stomach or the stomach wall. A computer is then used to put the images together and create a detailed picture of the inside of your body.
These scans will help your doctor assess how advanced your cancer is. It allows them to see whether the cancerous cells have formed tumours anywhere else in the body. The scans can also help your doctors work out which type of treatment will be most effective and appropriate for you. If your specialist thinks your stomach cancer may have spread to your liver, you may need to have a liver ultrasound. This type of scan uses high-frequency sound waves to produce an image of your liver.
After all of the tests have been completed and your test results are known, it should be possible to tell what stage and grade of stomach cancer you have. Staging is a measurement of how far cancer has spread. There are a number of different ways stomach cancer can be staged. One method uses a numbering system from 1 to 4. The higher the number, the further the cancer has spread. The majority of stomach cancers are at stage 3 or 4 when diagnosed, which means a cure isn't usually possible.
Grading describes how quickly the cancer is likely to spread in the future. There are 3 grades of stomach cancer:. Cancer Research UK has more information about the staging and grading of stomach cancer. The treatments recommended for stomach cancer will depend on your general health and how far the cancer has spread. Most hospitals use multidisciplinary teams made up of a number of different specialists see below who work together to plan and carry out the best treatment, tailored to your circumstances.
The main treatments for stomach cancer are surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. You may have one of these treatments or a combination. If surgery is recommended, you may have chemotherapy beforehand. If the tumour is in the upper part of your stomach, including the junction between the oesophagus and stomach, you may also have radiotherapy prior to surgery. Surgery is mainly used if stomach cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, whereas chemotherapy and radiotherapy tend to be used when the condition is diagnosed at a later stage.
Where possible, the primary aim of treatment is to completely remove the tumour and any other cancerous cells in your body. If it's not possible to remove the tumour, your doctors will focus on trying to prevent it from getting any bigger and causing further harm to your body. This may be done using surgery or chemotherapy. In some cases, it's not possible to eliminate the cancer or slow it down. In this case, your treatment will aim to relieve your symptoms and make you as comfortable as possible, usually with surgery or radiotherapy.
A relatively new medication called trastuzumab see below can also be used to treat some types of advanced stomach cancer. If you're diagnosed with stomach cancer at an early stage, it may be possible for the cancer to be completely removed during surgery. In some cases, it may be possible to pass a thin, flexible tube endoscope down your oesophagus gullet , rather than making incisions in your tummy.
This is known as endoscopic surgery, and can be used to remove a sample of the tumour for testing biopsy. It can also be used to remove the tumour completely if stomach cancer is diagnosed at an early stage. However, if your cancer has spread beyond your stomach, it may not be possible to remove it completely. If this is the case, you may still have surgery to remove any cancer blocking your stomach, to ease your symptoms.
This will depend on whether your symptoms can be controlled and the risks and side effects of undertaking major surgery. Any type of surgery for stomach cancer will involve a large operation and a long recovery time. If you have stomach cancer surgery, you'll usually need to stay in hospital for around 2 weeks. You'll also need several weeks at home to recover.
Surgery to remove part of your stomach is known as a partial or sub-total gastrectomy, and surgery to remove all of your stomach is known as a total gastrectomy.
In some cases, your surgeon may remove part of your oesophagus as well as all of your stomach, using a procedure known as an oesophagogastrectomy. These operations may be carried out using either a large incision in your tummy open surgery , or a number of smaller incisions through which surgical tools can be passed laparoscopic or keyhole surgery.
Both of these techniques are carried out under general anaesthetic , which means you'll be unconscious throughout the procedure. During these operations, your surgeon will also remove the lymph nodes small glands that help fight infection nearest to the cancer. It's possible that your stomach cancer may have spread to these lymph nodes, and removing them helps prevent the cancer returning.
If your cancer is in the lower part of your stomach, you may have a partial gastrectomy to remove it. After surgery, your stomach will be smaller than it was before the operation. However, the top part of your stomach, where your oesophagus feeds into it, won't be affected.
If your cancer is in the middle or at the top of your stomach, you may need to have a total gastrectomy. If the cancer is close to the end of your oesophagus, where it meets your stomach, you may need to have an oesophagogastrectomy.
If you have a total gastrectomy, the end of your gullet will be joined to the top of your jejunum the top part of your small intestine. If you have an oesophagogastrectomy, the remaining part of your gullet will be joined to your jejunum. If your stomach cancer has spread beyond your stomach, it may not be possible to remove it using surgery. However, if your stomach has been significantly affected by cancer it can cause a blockage, which prevents food from being properly digested.
A blocked stomach can cause symptoms such as stomach pain, vomiting and feeling very full after eating. Chemotherapy is a specialist treatment for cancer that uses medicines, called cytotoxic medicines, to stop cancer cells dividing and multiplying.
As it circulates through your body, the medicine can target cancer cells in your stomach and any that may have spread to other parts of your body. You may have chemotherapy for stomach cancer before surgery to reduce the amount of cancer that has to be removed during the operation. Chemotherapy can also be used after surgery to destroy any remaining cancer cells and prevent the cancer from coming back. Chemotherapy can also help to slow the progression of cancer and ease the symptoms of more advanced stomach cancer, which may not be suitable for surgery.
If may be given orally as tablets or intravenously by injection or a drip through a vein directly into your bloodstream , or a combination of both. Intravenous chemotherapy is usually given in hospital, while oral chemotherapy is taken at home. Chemotherapy is often given in cycles, each usually lasting about three weeks. Alternatively, chemotherapy may be administered through a small pump, which gives you a constant low dose over a few weeks or months. The pumps are portable and can be worn at home, which means fewer trips to hospital.
Chemotherapy works by preventing cancerous cells from growing rapidly. However, it also destroys non-cancerous cells such as hair follicles and red and white blood cells. Side effects may include:. The side effects you experience after having chemotherapy will depend on the type of chemotherapy and the number of treatment sessions you need. You'll be told who to contact if you're experiencing serious side effects from chemotherapy, and it's very important that this contact information is recorded carefully.
If you experience nausea and vomiting as a result of chemotherapy, you may be able to take anti-sickness medication to counter it. This may be given intravenously by injection directly into your bloodstream at the same time as your chemotherapy. The side effects of chemotherapy will only last for as long as your course of treatment lasts.
Once your treatment is over, the hair follicles and blood cells will repair themselves. This means your hair will grow back, although it might look or feel different from how it did before chemotherapy for example, it may be a slightly different colour, or be softer or curlier than before. Radiotherapy uses beams of high energy radiation to destroy cancer cells. It's not often used to treat stomach cancer because there's a risk that other organs close to your stomach might be damaged by the treatment.
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