Stomach cancer (also called gastric cancer) can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs. It may grow along the stomach wall into the esophagus or small intestine.
Cancer may also extend through the stomach wall and spread to nearby lymph nodes and organs, such as the liver, pancreas, and colon. It may spread to distant organs, such as the lungs, the lymph nodes above the collarbone and to a woman’s ovaries.
Treatment will depend upon the stage of tumour and fitness of the patient to undergo a major surgical procedure. Treatment can be broadly categorised into curative and palliative.
Curative treatment aims to eradicate the disease. To get the best results in advanced tumours, chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy and surgery are combined in an approach called multimodal treatment. Depending upon the extent of tumour, chemotherapy or chemoradiation can be given before surgery or after surgery.