What Is Stomach Cancer?

Stomach cancer, sometimes called gastric cancer, develops in your stomach and usually grows over the course of many years before detection. This cancer typically starts as precancerous changes in the stomach’s inner lining.

What symptoms your stomach cancer presents depends on the cancer’s location in your stomach. The same is true of your cancer’s outlook, depending on its location.

Types of Stomach Cancer

Up to 95 percent of stomach cancers are adenocarcinomas. This cancer begins in the mucosa cells of the stomach, cells in your stomach’s innermost lining.

Some cancers found in the stomach actually come from lymphoma. This immune system cancer often migrates to the stomach wall. Although the cancer shows up in the stomach, it is not a stomach cancer.

In addition to the most frequently diagnosed adenocarcinomas, other stomach cancers include:

• Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), rare tumors developing in interstitial cells of your stomach’s wall and being either benign or cancerous
• Carcinoid tumors, beginning in the hormone-producing stomach cells and not usually spreading to other parts of the body
• Other cancers starting in the stomach but being very rare, such as squamous cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma and leiomyosarcoma

Stomach Cancer Treatment

Like treatment for other cancers, your treatment options depend on many factors. These include your overall health and type of stomach cancer. Your treatment team guides you through the decision-making process for treatment, considering your options and weighing risks, benefits, outlook and potential side effects.

Treatment options for stomach cancer include:

• Surgical removal of the tumor or cells
• Chemotherapy
• Targeted therapy
• Radiation therapy
• Immunotherapy
• Clinical trials

Most people diagnosed with stomach cancer benefit from two or more combined types of treatment.

Treatment Team for Stomach Cancer

When you experience a stomach cancer diagnosis, your treatment team forms based on that diagnosis and your personal needs. A typical stomach cancer treatment team includes doctors and other professionals. These professionals may include:

• Gastroenterologist
• Surgical oncologist
• Medical oncologist
• Radiation oncologist
• Physician assistants
• Nurse practitioners
• Nurses
• Psychologists
• Social workers
• Rehabilitation specialists
• Nutrition specialists
• Other professionals, as fit your needs