Definition of Gastric Carcinoma

Gastric carcinoma is cancer of the stomach. It is most common in men over 40 years old. About 21,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with gastric carcinoma each year.

• Eating fruits and vegetables may help lower your risk of gastric carcinoma.

Risk Factors

• Smoking, poor diet, obesity, lack of physical activity, long-term inflammation of the stomach, and Helicobacter pylori infections are all risk factors of gastric carcinoma. However, most people who have these risk factors do not develop gastric carcinoma.

Symptoms

• Early-stage gastric carcinoma often shows no symptoms. As the disease progresses, the most common symptoms are stomach pain or discomfort, difficulty swallowing, nausea and vomiting, and weight loss. Diagnosis is often delayed because patients self-treat these symptoms.

Diagnosis

• Gastric carcinoma is diagnosed through a biopsy of stomach tissue, performed with a thin tube called an endoscope.

Treatment

• Treatment options for gastric carcinoma include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Most patients receive more than one kind of treatment.

Significance

• Gastric carcinoma is the second most common type of cancer death worldwide.