Overview

What is cancer?

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells in an organ, such as the lung, colon or skin. Cancer cells grow together to form a mass called a tumor. Benign (non-cancerous) cells can also grow and spread, but are not invasive. Cancer can be life threatening, because malignant cells can invade surrounding tissue and spread, or metastasize, to other parts of the body. Early detection before the cancer spreads provides the best chance of cure.

What is stomach cancer?

Food travels down a tube called the esophagus into the stomach, which is a curved, sack-like organ in the upper abdomen. Stomach cancer, or gastric cancer, usually arises from gland-forming cells on the inner surface. Some gastric cancers develop into an ulcer and are discovered when symptoms do not go away after the usual treatment for ulcers. Other cases of gastric cancer obstruct the opening into the small intestine. Symptoms are nausea, vomiting, vague pain, gastric reflux and weight loss.

Each year about 22,280 people in the United States learn they have cancer of the stomach. Stomach cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the world today, although it is not nearly as common in this country as it was 60 years ago. Dietary changes and the use of refrigeration for food storage are credited for the lower incidence of stomach cancer.

The five-year survival rate after a gastrectomy (surgery to remove the stomach) only ranges from 30 percent to 50 percent if the cancer has already penetrated into the stomach wall (stage II), and only 10 percent to 25 percent if the tumor has invaded nearby organs (Stage III).

More on Stomach Cancer

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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.