Health and Medical Articles

Stomach cancer is a stage 0 cancer in its early stages. The cancer is only in the innermost layer of the stomach wall.
Stage I
Cancer is the second or third layer of the stomach wall and has not spread to lymph nodes near the cancer or is in the second layer of the stomach wall and has spread to the lymph nodes are very close the tumor. (Lymph nodes are small structures in the form of bean found throughout the body and they produce and store cells that fight infection.)

Stage II
It may involve any of the following situations:
1. Cancer is the second layer of the stomach wall and has spread to lymph nodes far away from the tumor. 2. The cancer is only in the muscle layer (third layer) of the stomach and has spread to lymph nodes very close to the tumor. 3. Cancer is found in all four layers of the stomach wall but has not spread to lymph nodes or other organs.

Stage III
It may involve any of the following situations:
1. The cancer is in the third layer of the stomach wall and has spread to lymph nodes far away from the tumor. 2. Cancer is found in all four layers of the stomach wall and has spread to lymph nodes near the tumor or away from tumor3. Cancer is found in all four layers of the stomach wall and has spread to nearby tissues. The cancer may have spread or not to lymph nodes very close to the tumor.

Stage IV
The cancer has spread to nearby tissues and lymph nodes away from the tumor or has spread to other parts of the body.

Treatment of stomach cancer:
There are treatments for most patients with stomach cancer. It uses two kinds of treatment:
. Surgery (removing the cancer in an operation)
. Chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells).

Radiation therapy and biological therapy are being evaluated in clinical trials. Surgery is a common treatment for all stages of cancer stomach.The doctor may remove the cancer using one of the following:

Subtotal gastrectomy
In a subtotal gastrectomy is removed part of the stomach that contains cancer and some other tissues and organs near the tumor. Also nearby lymph nodes are removed (lymph node dissection). The spleen (an organ in the upper abdomen that filters the blood and removes old blood cells) can be removed if necessary.

Total gastrectomy
In total gastrectomy removes the entire stomach and parts of the esophagus, small intestine and other tissues near the tumor. The spleen is removed in some cases. It also removes nearby lymph nodes (lymph node dissection). The esophagus connects the small intestine to allow the patient to continue eating and swallowing.
If only part of the stomach is removed, the patient can still eat a fairly normal. If the entire stomach is removed, the patient may need to eat small, frequent meals and foods low in sugar, high fat and protein. Most patients can adjust to this new diet.