A significant amount of gastric or stomach abnormal growths include both benign and cancerous lesions. Several types of malignant cancers begin in the stomach, but the majorities are primary cancers which developed in the mucosal glands.

Among the types of stomach cancers, carcinomas can be grouped according to the total appearance:

1.         Protruding

2.         Penetrating

3.         Spreading

The Stomach

The stomach is a musculo-membranous structure joined by the esophagus and the duodenum or small intestines. The stomach is shaped like the letter J and it serves as a food reservoir and an initiator of the digestive process. The food is held in the stomach temporarily until the stomach lining secretes gastric juices which act on the food to break it down chemically.

Symptoms

In the early stages of this cancer, there may not be any specific symptoms. Early stomach cancer can have very mild symptoms that may appear as simple indigestion. Other symptoms may include:

•          Feeling of being full after eating only a small amount of food

•          Heartburn

•          Unexplained weight loss

•          Vomiting

•          Difficulty swallowing

•          Pain in the abdomen

•          Dark bowel movements or blood in the stool

•          No appetite

•          Difficulty swallowing

Stomach Cancer Glossary

•          Benign: not malignant; not recurrent; not cancerous

•          Biopsy: the removal and examination of a small piece of tissue from the living body to determine if cancer cells are present.

•          Chemotherapy: a treatment for disease by using chemical agents.

•          Metastatic: the transfer of a cancer from one organ to another.

•          Penetrating: the tumor has a sharp well described boarder and may be ulcerated.

•          Protruding: the tumor goes forward, into, laterally

•          Radiation: a treatment for disease using high-frequency ionizing radiation.

•          Spreading: the tumor can go either superficially along the mucosa or infiltrating within the wall.

•          Tumor: a growth of tissue in which the division of cells is uncontrolled and progressive.

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