Stomach cancer or gastric cancer is cancer that occurs in the stomach. Human stomach is responsible for holding, receiving the food and then helping to digest it.

Stomach cancer most often refer to the cancer that begins in adenocarcinoma, the mucus-producing cells on the inside lining of the stomach.

In early stages, it is causes only nonspecific symptoms or asymptomatic. If someone have symptoms that suggest stomach cancer, the doctor will check to see whether they are due to cancer or to some other cause.

The doctor asks about the patient’s medical history, does a physical exam, and may order laboratory studies. The patient may also have one or all of the following exams:

  1. Gastroscopic exam is the diagnostic method of choice. This involves insertion of a fiber optic camera into the stomach to visualize it.
  2. Barium roentgenogram
  3. CT scanning of the abdomen may reveal gastric cancer, but is more useful to determine invasion into adjacent tissues, or the presence of spread to local lymph nodes.
  4. Biopsy. The doctor uses the endoscope to remove tissue from the stomach. A pathologist checks the tissue under a microscope for cancer cells.