Stomach Cancer
What
is the stomach?
The
stomach is part of the digestive system. It is located in
the upper abdomen, under the ribs. The upper part of the
stomach connects to the esophagus, and the lower part leads
into the small intestine.
When
food enters the stomach, muscles in the stomach wall create
a rippling motion that mixes and mashes the food. This motion
is called peristalsis. At the same time, juices made by
glands in the lining of the stomach help digest the food.
After about 3 hours, the food becomes a liquid and moves
into the small intestine, where digestion continues.
What
is cancer, and how does stomach cancer spread?
Cancer
is a group of more than 100 different diseases. They affect
the body's basic unit, the cell. Cancer occurs when cells
become abnormal and divide without control or order.
Like
all other organs of the body, the stomach is made up of
many types of cells. Normally, cells divide to produce more
cells only when the body needs them. This orderly process
helps keep us healthy.
If
cells keep dividing when new cells are not needed, a mass
of tissue forms. This mass of extra tissue, called a growth
or tumor, can be benign or malignant.
Benign
tumors are not cancer. They can usually be removed and,
in most cases, they do not come back. Most important, cells
from benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body.
Benign tumors are rarely a threat to life.
Malignant
tumors are cancer. Cancer cells can invade and damage tissues
and organs near the tumor. Also, cancer cells can break
away from a malignant tumor and enter the bloodstream or
lymphatic system. This is how cancer spreads from the original
(primary) tumor to form new tumors in other parts of the
body. The spread of cancer is called metastasis.
Each
year, about 24,000 people in the United States learn that
they have cancer of the stomach. Stomach cancer (also called
gastric cancer) can develop in any part of the stomach and
can spread throughout the stomach and to other organs. It
can grow along the stomach wall into the esophagus or small
intestine. It also can extend through the stomach wall and
spread to nearby lymph nodes, and to organs such as the
liver, pancreas, and colon. Stomach cancer also may spread
to distant organs, such as the lungs, lymph nodes above
the collar bone, and the ovaries.
Stomach Illustration - Stomach Cancer
When
cancer spreads to another part of the body, the new tumor
has the same kind of abnormal cells and the same name as
the primary tumor. For example, if stomach cancer spreads
to the liver, the cancer cells in the liver are stomach
cancer cells. The disease is metastatic stomach cancer (it
is not liver cancer). However, when stomach cancer spreads
to an ovary, the tumor in the ovary is called a Krukenberg
tumor. (This tumor, named for a doctor, is not a different
disease; it is metastatic stomach cancer. The cancer cells
in a Krukenberg tumor are stomach cancer cells, the same
as the cancer cells in the primary tumor).
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The information on this page has been extracted from http://www.medicinenet.com/stomach_cancer/article.htm
