What are the symptoms of early stage of stomach cancer?
Why is it that there is no discomfort in general, but it is advanced gastric cancer as soon as it is detected?
Because, there is no special discomfort in the early stage of stomach cancer.
It can be that there is no discomfort at all and eating well.
It can be a little bit of bloating and acid reflux occasionally, which is not serious.
If there is really black stool and people are getting thinner and thinner (not because of eating less), it is usually not early stage.
To detect stomach cancer early, not by symptoms.
Because, you have very serious discomfort, maybe the gastroscopy is just a gastritis.
Because, you don’t have any discomfort, maybe the gastroscopy is a stomach cancer.
The stomach disease that always can’t be cured may not be in the stomach, but in the disease.
So, don’t have any stomach discomfort and think it’s stomach cancer, and don’t skip the gastroscopy because you don’t have any discomfort.
What you have to do is to see if you have any high-risk factors!
What are the high risk factors for stomach cancer?
The so-called high-risk factors are that if you have them, the risk of getting stomach cancer is higher than others.
The high-risk factors of stomach cancer are these.
1. Helicobacter pylori: its relationship with gastric cancer is relatively clear.
2. older age: the risk is higher the older you are after 40 years old
3.Eating incorrectly: smoked, fried and fried food, skipping breakfast, eating fast, eating salty, eating leftovers, eating irregularly, smoking and drinking.
4, family history of gastric cancer: some gastric cancers have family heredity
5, pre-cancerous diseases of stomach: chronic atrophic gastritis, gastric polyp, gastric ulcer, post-gastrectomy, hypertrophic gastritis, pernicious anemia, etc. But they are all benign, not cancer!
So, these only increase the chance of getting stomach cancer, not cancer immediately, and you will not get stomach cancer tomorrow because you didn’t eat breakfast today.
Will gastritis become cancer if left untreated for a long time?
Gastritis to gastric cancer is a very long process that most people will not encounter in their lifetime.
Chronic atrophic gastritis is a precancerous disease of stomach cancer, but it is benign and, like “eating wrong”, only increases the risk of stomach cancer.
It just means that the soil quality has deteriorated and is prone to grow some bad things.
What is really closely related to stomach cancer is something called heterogeneous hyperplasia. If pathological examination reveals moderate to severe heterogeneous hyperplasia, then you really have to be careful, this is the closest thing to cancer.
We have an age, and the stomach also has an age, which is the “stomach age”, that is, the degree of aging of the gastric mucosa, which is related to atrophy and intestinalization.
It doesn’t matter if you are older and your stomach is older.
If you are not old, but your stomach is very old, you should be careful!
You don’t need to be concerned about whether gastritis will turn into gastric cancer, but rather how high the risk is.
The key to high risk is the degree of atrophy (not in line with age) and whether there is heterogeneous hyperplasia in the pathology.
Therefore, the closest to gastric cancer is not gastritis, but those heterogeneous hyperplasia, and each step of change is very long, so good prevention is the key.
What can be done to really prevent gastric cancer?
With gastritis, especially atrophic gastritis, it is not the fear of them turning into gastric cancer.
What to do is: to do a good job in prevention.
1. Regular review of gastroscopy
Gastroscopy once every 1-2 years if you have only atrophy and no enterosis or heterotypy.
If there is moderate to severe atrophy and there is also intestinalization, then gastroscopy once a year.
if there is moderate heterozygosity, then a gastroscopy is required once every 6-12 months
If there is a severe heterotype, if indeed it is, you need to hurry to be treated.
2.Kill H. pylori
Scientists have found that even if you already have intestinalization or heterotypic hyperplasia, eradicating this bacterium can play a role in cancer prevention.
3.Remove precancerous lesions
For some highly risky guys (such as those with severe heterogeneous hyperplasia), gastroscopic resection can be a good way to prevent stomach cancer.
4.Orally taking some drugs
Multivitamins, trace elements (carotenoid C, beta-carotene, selenium, allicin), aspirin, etc., but these are still unclear and not necessarily useful.
So, regular review is the key, and prevention against high risk factors is the way to go.
Relax and manage gastritis!
To sum up.
1, there is no special discomfort in early stage of gastric cancer.
2. high-risk factors only increase the risk of getting cancer.
3. Beware of atrophic gastritis with heterotypes.
4. Regular review is the key to good management.
No discomfort ≠ no stomach cancer
Very uncomfortable ≠ having stomach cancer
Don’t forget to have a gastroscopy for physical examination.