Gastric cancer is the third most common malignant tumor in China, and there are more than 400,000 new gastric cancer patients in China every year. Only by fully understanding the tumor can we better prevent and overcome the tumor, however, in our daily work, we find that the public knows little about gastric cancer, and there are even many misunderstandings about it. Then it is necessary to popularize the knowledge about stomach cancer. 1. What is stomach cancer? Gastric cancer, i.e. gastric adenocarcinoma, is a malignant tumor originated from epithelium, which is the most common malignant tumor of stomach. However, gastric cancer is not the only malignant tumor of stomach, but also other malignant tumors of stomach, including gastric sarcoma, gastric lymphoma and mesenchymal stromal tumor. Often the patient’s family members say, “It is great that it is not gastric cancer”, but remember that the doctor said it is not gastric cancer, which does not mean that it is not a malignant tumor. 2. Why does stomach cancer occur? The factors of stomach cancer are various, including smoking, bad dietary habits, chronic atrophic gastritis, Helicobacter pylori infection, family history of gastric or esophageal cancer, long-term poor psychological state, special occupational risk, long-term exposure to harmful carcinogenic substances, geographical factors, geological water sources containing carcinogens, etc. 3. Pre-cancerous diseases and precancerous lesions? Pre-cancerous state of gastric cancer refers to pre-cancerous diseases, such as chronic atrophic gastritis, gastric ulcer, gastric polyp, residual gastritis and hypertrophic gastritis, etc. These benign gastric diseases may occur gastric cancer. Among them, chronic atrophic gastritis is the most common pre-cancerous state of stomach. Scholars at home and abroad have conducted tracking and follow-up observation on chronic atrophic gastritis, and found that the number of people who developed cancer in chronic atrophic gastritis is as high as 10%. The main pathological features of chronic atrophic gastritis are chronic inflammation of mucosa and glandular atrophy, accompanied by intestinal hyperplasia and atypical hyperplasia of gastric mucosa. Timely detection of precancerous state of gastric cancer, strengthening regular review and taking preventive measures can prevent or detect gastric cancer at an early stage. 4. Are there any obvious signs of stomach cancer? Early stage of stomach cancer usually has no obvious specific symptoms, and most of the patients have no different symptoms from those of common gastritis. There are abdominal distension, loss of appetite and emaciation, obstruction of eating and vomiting, vomiting blood, black stools, anemia, epigastric pressure, lymph node enlargement, ascites, pelvic floor implantation, obstruction, jaundice, anemic appearance, emaciation, cachexia, and tumor-associated syndromes of gastric cancer, which are often progressive gastric cancer. Therefore, regular examination or even census can be carried out for early detection and early treatment. 5.What should I do if I have stomach cancer? Many patients are at a loss as to what to do when they get stomach cancer, how to treat it? How to treat it? Chemotherapy? Or taking traditional Chinese medicine? They are at a loss. So what should be done when you have stomach cancer? If you have stomach cancer, you should not believe in traditional Chinese medicine and delay the treatment time, and you should receive standardized treatment, i.e. comprehensive treatment mainly based on surgery. Unless the tumor itself is already in advanced stage and cannot be operated or the patient’s general condition is very poor and cannot tolerate surgery, surgery is the first choice, only surgery has the possibility of radical cure, and all other treatments are palliative treatments. In short, unless the tumor is inoperable, surgery should be the first choice. After surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, biotherapy and other comprehensive treatments should be given according to pathological staging and patient’s condition. 6.Can laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer be done cleanly? It has been proved in several clinical trials that laparoscopic surgery for early gastric cancer can achieve the same curative effect as that of traditional open surgery, and has the advantages of small trauma and fast recovery. At present, one third of gastric cancer patients in Japan, South Korea and other countries with high incidence of gastric cancer receive laparoscopic curative treatment of gastric cancer every year. At present, one third of gastric cancer patients in Japan, Korea and other countries with high incidence of gastric cancer receive laparoscopic radical treatment of gastric cancer every year. 7. Can all gastric cancer patients receive targeted therapy? Targeted therapy is to design corresponding therapeutic drugs at the cellular molecular level for the target that has been clearly defined, which can be a protein molecule or a gene fragment inside the tumor cells, and the drugs enter the body to specifically select the target to combine and take effect, so as to cause the specific death of tumor cells without affecting the normal tissue cells around the tumor, so molecular-targeted therapy is also called “biological missile”. Therefore, molecular targeted therapy is also called “biological missile”. At present, the target of targeted therapy for gastric cancer is Her-2, only Her-2 positive is the indication for targeted therapy, not all gastric cancer patients are suitable for targeted therapy. 8. How long can the patient live? How long can a patient live after getting stomach cancer is one of the most concerned questions of family members in normal work. Gastric cancer can be divided into early gastric cancer and progressive gastric cancer. The prognosis of early gastric cancer is good, with 5-year survival rate over 90%, while the report of advanced gastric cancer is different, generally around 55%. This is based on a large sample size of statistical data, and it is often difficult to predict precisely how long the survival period will be for each patient, because the degree of disease, treatment, physical condition, whether there are other comorbidities and so on are different for each patient, and thus the survival time will also be different. 9.What should gastric cancer patients eat after surgery? How much to eat? How to eat? At the early stage after gastric cancer surgery, in order to adapt to the reconstruction of digestive tract, diet should pay attention to gradual transition from thin to thick, from small amount to large amount, and should choose light and easy-to-digest, high-energy and high-protein food. Also eat more foods rich in vitamins and trace elements. It is advisable to choose nutritious and easy-to-digest foods for the main course and side dishes, and avoid raw foods. The amount of food eaten should also be small and frequent, the simplest principle of their own feel comfortable to the extent. Try not to eat sticky food such as glutinous rice. Do not eat baked, roasted, smoked or fried foods. Do not eat moldy, expired, high salt food. It is recommended to take medical finished enteral nutrition products. 10.How to prevent stomach cancer? Pay attention to reasonable nutrition, diversify food as much as possible, eat more high-protein, multi-vitamin, low animal fat, easy-to-digest food and fresh fruits and vegetables, don’t eat stale or irritating things, and eat less smoked, baked, pickled, deep-fried and salty food. Avoid people who eat high salt, smoked products and salt-pickled food for a long time. Appropriate physical exercise, keep a cheerful mood. At present, there is no clear measure to absolutely prevent the occurrence of stomach cancer, and it is especially important to have frequent medical checkups to prevent the disease from occurring in the first place.