Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Stomach cancer history and symptoms
Introduction
Overview
Overview
Symptoms of stomach cancer include abdominal pain, bloating, weight loss, hematemesis, melena, and dysphagia. Twenty-five percent of patients have a history of gastric ulcer
Symptoms
Symptoms
- Stomach cancer is often asymptomatic or causes only nonspecific symptoms in its early stages.
- By the time symptoms occur, the cancer has generally metastasized to other parts of the body, one of the main reasons for its poor prognosis.
History
- Twenty-five percent of patients have a history of gastric ulcer.
- Weight loss: Due to insufficient caloric intake, early satiety, and dysphagia.
Less common symptoms[1]
- Abdominal pain or discomfort in the upper abdomen, tends to be epigastric and mild.
- Nausea and vomiting: ay be due to the mass itself or gastric outlet obstruction from an advanced distal tumor.
- Weakness and fatigue.
- Hematemesis and melena: occult bleeding accompanied with iron deficiency anemia, overt bleeding is seen in less than 20% of cases.
References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A (2016). “Cancer statistics, 2016”. CA Cancer J Clin. 66 (1): 7–30. doi:10.3322/caac.21332. PMID 26742998.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ajani JA, Bentrem DJ, Besh S, D’Amico TA, Das P, Denlinger C; et al. (2013). “Gastric cancer, version 2.2013: featured updates to the NCCN Guidelines”. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 11 (5): 531–46. PMID 23667204.
Editor-In-Chief:
C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Parminder Dhingra, M.D. [2] Mohammed Abdelwahed M.D[3]