Treatment of Stomach Cancer

How can you suspect stomach cancer diagnosis?

The first alarming symptom in stomach cancer diagnosis is unexplained digestive problems, i.e. nausea, vomiting, bloating, and loss of appetite. They do not necessarily indicate the presence of a malignant tumor, but without a doubt, they require visiting a gastroenterologist.

Many diseases of the upper gastrointestinal tract, such as chronic esophagitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, gastritis with low acidity or gastric ulcer, lead to chronic trauma of the mucous membrane and are factors that provoke cancer development. Therefore it is so important to carry out their treatment with all the responsibility.

A stomach cancer diagnosis does not have the characteristic manifestations that make it possible to distinguish it from other diseases of this organ, but patients often note a sudden aversion to meat and weight loss despite a good nutrition. Contrary to some stereotypes, bleeding is not always observed in malignant tumors of the upper gastrointestinal tract and, as a rule, arise only at the later stages.

Why is stomach cancer dangerous?

A tumor in the stomach disturbs the digestion process, prevents food from passing into the lower gastrointestinal tract. A malignant tumor invades the wall of the stomach and can further spread to other organs, e.g. grow into the large intestine or pancreas. When a tumor is located near the esophagus, it can spread to it and disturb the passage of food into the stomach. As a result, people with cancer experience weight loss until exhaustion. The tumor can spread through the lymphatic and blood vessels to other organs (liver, lungs, brain, bones, etc.), where it starts new foci of malignant growth. Thus, stomach cancer is a life-threatening condition.

Stage 1

This stage is one of the initial stages of a stomach cancer diagnosis. A tumor appears in the mucous membrane, but it can affect the muscle layer, as well as spread to a single lymph node. Diagnosing early-stage stomach cancer has the greatest chance of a complete cure. About 95% of patients with stomach cancer detected at the first or zero stage return to normal life after qualified therapy.

Stage 2

At the following stages of gastric cancer, the tumor grows into the outer layer of the stomach wall, and up to 15 lymph nodes may be affected. If you diagnose oncology at this stage, the probability of living more than five years after the course of cancer care is close to 50%.

Stage 3

At the third stages of gastric cancer, the patient's condition worsens. The tumor spreads to the serous and muscle stomach layers and also affects nearby organs, i.e. the transverse colon, small intestine, liver, spleen, kidneys, and so on. Stomach cancer treatment at this stage gives a chance of five or more years of life for 15-40% of patients after cancer care.

Treatment options

Depending on the general condition and age of the patient, the location of the tumor, and the stage of stomach cancer, one or more methods of stomach cancer treatment are used.

Surgery that includes the removal of the tumor is the preferred therapeutic option for most stages of stomach cancer. Depending on the size and location of the neoplasm, the entire stomach or its part is removed.

Chemotherapy is carried out in addition to surgery or when the latter is insufficient or impossible for some reason. Chemotherapy inhibits growth of tumor and metastases, and in some cases helps to reduce the size of the neoplasm.

Radiation therapy is usually used if the tumor is located at the junction of the esophagus and stomach. The method of cancer care allows reducing the size of the neoplasm and allows the patient to eat through the mouth.

Intra-abdominal hyperthermic chemoperfusion or chemoembolization helps to destroy cancer cells in the abdominal cavity while removing the primary neoplasm.

Surgery

In stomach cancer, cancer care includes an integrated approach. However, the main method of stomach cancer treatment is surgery.

Depending on the size of the tumor and stage of cancer, doctors perform various operations, i.e. with partial or complete removal of the organ and surrounding tissues.

In leading hospitals for stomach cancer treatment, high-tech interventions are widely used in addition to traditional methods of surgery. Most of the high-tech operations are performed with the da Vinci robotic system.

All modifications of surgery, except for partial resection, include the mandatory lymph node dissection during the operation. Lymphadenectomy for stomach cancer treatment is the removal of fatty tissue surrounding the stomach, which contains the lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels. This procedure is performed regardless of the presence or absence of metastases in the lymphatic system.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is used for regional and metastatic gastric cancer. The choice of tactics of stomach cancer treatment is described below.

If stomach cancer goes beyond mucous membrane, then surgery can be one of the treatment options. When the neoplasm goes to submucosa, surgery is used for treatment as well.

If the tumor continues to grow further, there are several cancer care options. However, chemotherapy is mostly prescribed. Chemotherapy is carried out either after surgery or prior to surgery.

Generally, two-drug chemotherapy regimens are followed by fewer side effects than three-drug regimens.

If the neoplasm doesn’t respond to first-line chemotherapy protocols, the subsequent care is selected depending on the previous stomach cancer treatment regimen and the patient's general health.

Targeted therapy

Until recently, the average life expectancy of patients with stomach cancer at advanced stages did not exceed one year (if they were treated with existing methods of medical care). Today, new expectations in stomach cancer treatment are associated with targeted therapy, the effectiveness of which has been proved by the recently published data.

An actual new step in the development of medications for stomach cancer treatment is associated with targeted drugs. The action of the latter is directed at certain antigens on cancer cells, which allows achieving high specificity. However, different types of tumors, as well as different cells in the tumor, require different methods of cancer care. Therefore the targeted drugs are only a part of complex therapy or a supporting stomach cancer treatment.

In patients with advanced stages of the disease, targeted drugs allow to slow down cancer progression, improve the survival and quality of life, but do not heal. It’s expected that in the nearest future new targeted methods of cancer care will appear, capable of changing the patient's forecast.

Stage 4

It is very important to note that the aim of stomach cancer 4th stage treatment is to transform the disease into a chronic form.

Low resectability of metastases forces oncologists to look for stage 4 stomach cancer alternative treatments. Thus, cancer care methods of local influence are applied.

In the leading hospitals, the methods of regional chemoperfusion or chemoembolization are widely used in stage 4 stomach cancer treatment instead of the systemic chemotherapy for stomach cancer stage 4 The results allowed studying the possibilities of using the above methods for stomach cancer treatment more actively.

Regional chemotherapy methods (chemoembolization) affect both the primary tumor and metastases, without the development of severe side effects.

The studies show that chemoembolization as a stomach cancer treatment method is effective and low-traumatic. Consequently, stage 4 stomach cancer patients with burdened history have a chance to prolong life. Chemoembolization in the cancer care of both solitary and multiple metastases in stage 4 stomach cancer makes it possible to achieve stabilization or regression of the oncological process.

Palliative treatment

There's also a type of cancer care that is not aimed at curing patients, but helps to create the most favorable living conditions. Stage 4 usually requires a symptomatic or palliative stomach cancer treatment. Palliative therapy is designed to eliminate symptoms that bring torment to the patient like severe pain, nausea, and vomiting, dizziness, or bleeding.

If the tumors are not operable, the surgeon may:

• Insert a gastrostomy tube. This includes an artificial introduction of the tube into the stomach through the abdominal wall, which will help feed the patient and prolong his life.
• Form a bypass junction between the intestinal loops and the stomach itself. In this way a path will be created along which food will pass. This will also help to prolong the patient's life.
• Resort to endoluminal laser therapy, that is, to destroy the tumor with a laser introduced during diagnostic or therapeutic intervention. This method is used when the neoplasm closes the entrance to the stomach.

How to find the best hospital for treatment abroad?

When you search for the information about different hospitals for stomach cancer treatment abroad, the whole process can be confusing. To ease up your journey, it's fair to say that German hospitals are ones of the best in the oncology field.

German hospitals rank first among the countries of the European Union in terms of total expenditures in the field of oncology.

Separately, achievements of German medical technology should be mentioned, which is the basis for both scientific discoveries and their practical implementation in the hospitals.

The following hospitals are recommended for the treatment of stomach cancer:

• University Hospital Duesseldorf
• University Hospital of Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich
• University Hospital Ulm
• University Hospital Frankfurt am Main
• University Hospital Heidelberg

To know more about the services these hospitals provide, visit the Booking Health website.

Price and quality ratio in German oncology hospitals

The sky-high prices for cancer treatment in Germany are one of the most common myths about German medicine. In fact, the cost of treatment in oncological clinics in Germany is much lower than, for example, in the United States:

• The cost of treatment with surgical complete resection of the stomach and further plasty of intestinal tissue starts at 29,978 EUR
• The cost of treatment with CRS and HIPEC starts at 38,211 EUR
• The minimal price for diagnostics of stomach cancer is 3,177 EUR

The average price of rehabilitation after stomach cancer treatment is 1,190 EUR per day, the minimum price is 1,041 EUR per day, and the maximum price is 1,553 EUR per day.

What you really pay for is:

• Impeccably accurate diagnostics
• The latest methods of cancer treatment
• Highly qualified doctors
• Sparing methods of performing operations

Thus, when seeking help from German oncology hospitals, patients receive an optimal price-to-quality ratio of medical care. As for the cost of treatment, in each case it is determined individually.

Treatment abroad with Booking Health

By choosing treatment abroad, patients receive the best that the world medicine has at its disposal today. In an objective comparison, the cost of services in foreign hospitals is commensurate with local prices for medical care.

As for the arrangement of treatment abroad, the medical tourism company Booking Health takes upon itself all the necessary preparation. Booking Health can even deal with lockdown limitations so that you freely use the option of treatment abroad.

But, perhaps, the most important thing is that Booking Health assists you throughout the whole treatment journey.

Leave a request on the Booking Health website to start the stomach cancer treatment abroad right now.

Authors: 

The article was edited by medical experts, board-certified doctors Dr. Vadim Zhiliuk and Dr. Sergey Pashchenko. For the treatment of the conditions referred to in the article, you must consult a doctor; the information in the article is not intended for self-medication!

Sources:

National Cancer Institute

Canadian Cancer Society

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