Gastric (stomach) Cancer

Gastric or stomach cancer is a cancer that forms in tissues lining the stomach. In India there were 57,394 new cases diagnosed in 2018 alone.

Types Of Gastric Cancer

Gastric cancer may be classified in several ways by a doctor or specialist of cancer:
Based on types of cells in the tumour.

Adenocarcinoma: Tumour that originates from cells in the lining of the gut that secretes mucus and other fluids.

Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours (GIST): These are tumours that start in the muscle tissue of the digestive tract.

Lymphoma: These tumours start in the lymph nodes which are part of the body’s immune system.

Carcinoids: These are tumours that start in special hormone-producing cells in the intestine.
Based on how the disease has advanced cancer

Very Early Cancer: The tumour has not spread beyond the first layer of the stomach and has not spread to the lymph nodes

Locoregional cancer: The cancer has grown beyond the first layer of the stomach and may have grown to surrounding lymph nodes.

Metastatic cancer: The cancer has spread to distant sites and organs in the body.

Staging Of Gastric Cancer

If you are diagnosed with gastric cancer, your doctor will run more tests to determine the extent (stage) of your cancer. The stage of your stomach cancer is based on the size and spread of the tumour and helps the clinical team decide which treatments are optimum:

• Stage I: The tumour is limited to the top layer of tissue that lines the inside of the esophagus or stomach. Cancer cells also may have spread to a limited number of nearby lymph nodes.
• Stage II: The cancer has spread deeper into a deeper muscle layer of the esophagus or stomach wall. Cancer may also have spread to more of the lymph nodes.
• Stage III: The cancer may have grown through all the layers of the esophagus or stomach and spread to nearby structures. Or it may be a smaller cancer that has spread more extensively to the lymph nodes.
• Stage IV: This stage indicates that the cancer has spread to distant areas of the body.

Sources: European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO); Cancer India; American Cancer Society; National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN); Mayo Clinic; Cancer.Net;