How Is Gastric Cancer Treated?

 

Your stage of gastric cancer and your overall health will determine the method your doctor recommends for treating your illness. The main ways of attacking gastric cancer are surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy (drugs). In many cases, doctors recommend more than one kind of treatment for their patients.

Your doctor will work with you to choose the best treatment for your gastric cancer based on:

  • Your age, overall health, and medical history
  • Extent of the disease
  • Grade and stage of the cancer
  • Your tolerance of specific medicines, procedures, or therapies
  • Expectations for the course of the disease
  • Your opinion or preference

All treatments have benefits and risks. You and your doctor should carefully balance the potential benefits of any cancer treatment with its potential risks.

After the gastric cancer is diagnosed and staged, your physician will recommend a treatment plan.

Treatment may include:

  • Surgery - Surgery is the only way to truly cure gastric cancer and it is the most common treatment for this disease. Depending on the features of your cancer, your surgeon might remove only the cancer, part of the stomach, or the entire stomach. Your surgeon might also take out some of your lymph nodes (small organs that help the body fight infection).
  • Chemotherapy - In most cases, chemotherapy drugs stop cancer cells from growing or reproducing and kill the cells. Different types of chemotherapy drugs work in different ways. Chemotherapy is sometimes given after surgery, along with radiation therapy, to reduce the chance that gastric cancer will come back. It can also be used to treat certain symptoms of gastric cancer.
  • Radiation therapy - Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation therapy is used, often with chemotherapy drugs, after surgery to kill gastric cancer cells left in the body and reduce the chance that the cancer will come back. It is also used to treat some of the symptoms of gastric cancer.

This content has been reviewed and approved by Myo Thant, MD.

This content was last reviewed August 15, 2010 by Dr. Reshma L. Mahtani.
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