Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancer pathologies. According to scientists and oncologists, cancer of the stomach occurs as a result of malnutrition, as well as eating low-quality and harmful products. Oncologists believe that eating vegetables and fruits, as well as foods rich in fiber, protects the stomach from diseases. Marinated, salted and smoked food, on the contrary, has a harmful effect and contributes to the formation of the pathology of the gastrointestinal tract.
A characteristic manifestation of gastric cancer is considered a digestive disorder. The accompanying symptoms are: heaviness and discomfort in the abdomen, vomiting and nausea, loss of appetite.
It is believed that the formation of stomach cancer is directly affected by the level of nitrates in drinking water. But the prevailing opinion that alcohol promotes the development of a stomach tumor, on the contrary, has not been confirmed and has not received scientific evidence.
The absence of pathognomonic symptoms leads to the late detection of such a cancerous tumor. As a result, gastric cancer is detected in the terminal stages, which exacerbates the prognosis for the patient.
Four consecutive stages of cancer are distinguished depending on the development of the pathological process, in this regard, the principles of treatment at different stages of cancer are different.
At the first and second stages of cancer, gastric resection and excision of regional lymph nodes are indicated . "Stomach cancer, stage 3" involves, in addition to radical resection, the use of radiation therapy. If the diagnosis is "grade 4 stomach cancer," the treatment involves a whole range of measures, including all of the above, as well as palliative, radiation and chemotherapy.
Stomach cancer is an extremely serious pathology that can be treated very hard. So, resection of the tumor and regional lymph nodes most often does not provide a cure. This is due to the fact that early growth and metastasis are characteristic of gastric cancer. Metastatic foci are often so small that the available methods do not allow them to be diagnosed.
Currently, new, experimental, treatment methods are being actively studied. As such a method, preoperative chemotherapy is used, which helps to reduce the size of the tumor and facilitates the subsequent process of surgery.
Used surgical methods of treatment include both total gastrectomy, and partial, with the removal of regional lymph nodes. In the late stages of gastric cancer, a total resection of the stomach (removal) is performed, as well as a resection of the spleen and lower part of the esophagus. Radiation therapy for gastric cancer is extremely rare. This is primarily due to the irradiation of neighboring organs and systems.
The five-year survival rate of patients with gastric cancer after surgery is about 10-15%, with superficial localization of the tumor, these values can reach 70%.
A feature of chemotherapy for cancer is the lack of its reliable effect on the patient's life expectancy, but its effectiveness is from twenty-five to forty percent.
As for radiation therapy, the used intraoperative radiation therapy as a result of application has proved its effectiveness and significantly increased the five-year survival rate of patients with gastric oncology at stages 2 and 3.
The prognosis primarily depends on the stage of detection of gastric cancer. When detected in the early stages, the effectiveness of treatment is up to seventy percent. However, such an early detection is extremely rare in connection with a hidden picture of the manifestation of this pathology. Therefore, at the time of detection of cancer, only forty percent of patients have the potential to be cured.