Gastric Cancer

Cost of Gastric Cancer Treatment in India

The cost of treating stomach cancer in India will vary on several factors, such as:

The location.
Severity of the disease.
The stage of cancer.
Experience of the specialist or surgeon.
Number of chemotherapy or related- sessions required for the patient.

But on average, the approximate cost of treating stomach cancer cost in India is around USD 2823 to 6385 (INR 2,19,111 to 4,95,581).

What Is Stomach or Gastric Cancer?

Any type of cancer turns out to be deadly if anyone does not know about it and neglects the early signs and symptoms, and stomach cancer, is also known as gastric cancer. In stomach cancer, the cancer cells undergo rapid and abnormal growth in the gastric and digestive systems of the body and thus spread gradually to all the other parts of the body.The cancer cells, in the case of stomach cancer, start their growth from the abdominal lining and then spread into the lymph nodes and to the other body parts.

Stomach cancer is quite difficult to detect in the first stages, because it is quite tough to notice the symptoms and diagnose the disease early, to treat it in a safe stage. In the later stages, stomach cancer, like many other cancer diseases turns out to be deadly enough and there remains a little chance to treat and cure the disease.

Signs and Symptoms of Gastric Cancer

In the very first stages of gastric cancer, there are no such significant symptoms that are visible to the patient. So, the disease usually remains unnoticed and untreated for a long time as it lingers, cancer develops in full swing inside the body, and by the time the treatment has been delayed, cancer has spread almost all through the body, and there is little chance of survival. But still, certain symptoms are sometimes the early signs of gastric cancer. They are as follows:

Heartburn and acidity
Bloating and stomach upset
excessive tiredness and exhaustion
Indigestion with mild to severe abdominal pain
Loss of appetite and a feeling of fullness after eating a small portion of food

All the above symptoms are very common and do not certainly imply the development of cancer in a normal sense. But in most cases, these are only the early signs of stomach cancer. So, whenever you feel that you are feeling any of these above symptoms, it is highly advisable to take medical help from your concerned health care expert.

After the early stage is countered, cancer starts entering the severe stages, where the cancer cells start spreading into the various other parts of the body. In this case, one might have the following symptoms:

Unexplained loss of body weight.
Ulcer development in the stomach.
Jaundice or liver-related disease.
Traces of blood in the stool or black stools.
Development of a lump or a tumor on the abdomen.
Nausea, that may or may not be accompanied by vomiting.

Causes Of Stomach Cancer

There may be hundreds of factors that are responsible for the development of stomach cancer. But still today, there is confusion regarding the exact cause of stomach cancer among health care experts and many oncologists. Certain assumed factors are probably the causes of stomach cancer development in the human body. Some of the factors are as follows:

Age

Gender

Lifestyle disorders

Food habits

Infection

Family traits

Age

People who are aged, particularly those who are above the age group of 60 or 70 are most likely to develop stomach cancer than the younger generations.

Gender

Many oncologists frequently opine those men are more vulnerable to getting stomach cancer than women- but situations may vary.

Lifestyle disorders

This is a major factor behind the development of stomach cancer. Lack of proper nutrients in the regular diet, irregular lifestyle, and abnormal timings of dining or sleeping.

Food habits

Excessive consumption of junk foods, packaged food substances, smoked foods, foods that are oily and contain a lot of spice, heavy consumption of meat and pickles, and low consumption of fresh fruits and green, leafy vegetables.

Infection

If you suffer from any kind of infection, such as abdominal infections, inflammation, or stomach ulcers.

Family traits

Presence of genes of any type of cancer in the family history.

Types Of Gastric Cancer:

There are 3 basic types of gastric cancer. These are listed below:

Adenocarcinoma

Lymphoma

Carcinoid Tumor

Adenocarcinoma

This is the most frequently occurring form of stomach cancer, where the cancer cells start an abnormal division in the lining of the abdominal cavity and drain away from the mucus and the fluids within the normal and healthy cells. This form of stomach cancer can also be divided into two parts- Intestinal carcinoma and Diffuse adenocarcinoma. In the first type, the cancer cells grow slowly in the abdominal lining and are mostly found among aged individuals, while the second type spreads faster in the body and is mostly found in younger generations.

Lymphoma

There is an immune system that is present within the stomach that effectively protects against the occurrence of diseases in the gastric region. This rare form of cancer affects the immune system of the stomach.

Carcinoid Tumor

Carcinoid tumors are also rare in occurrence; these are cells that do not spread into the other parts of the body and produce hormones within the stomach.

Stages Of Stomach Cancer

There is a total of 4 stages of stomach cancer. The stage division is done according to the severity of the disease and the gradual development of cancer. The 4 stages of stomach cancer are as follows:

Stage 1:This is the initial stage of cancer when the cancer cells have just started their development and a tumor is formed that penetrates deep into the abdominal cavities. The disease in this stage is easily treatable.
Stage 2:In this stage, the tumor grows further and penetrates deep into the stomach, and gradually starts spreading into the lymph nodes. Stage 2 stomach cancer is most treatable.
Stage 3:Now the tumor undergoes further growth, and it slowly starts spreading into the other parts of the body.
Stage 4:This is the most dangerous stage of stomach cancer, where the cancer cells have spread into almost all the major organs of the body, such as the lungs, liver, brain, and so on and the disease in this stage is hardly treatable.

Diagnosis Of Stomach Cancer

There are certain ways the diagnosis of stomach cancer that is frequently followed and recommended by oncologists and health care experts. Some of the methods of diagnosing stomach cancer are as follows:

Endoscopy: A pipe with a probe is inserted through the food pipe of the patient to examine the condition of the stomach and the abdominal cavities and also to study the growth of cancer.
X-ray: Stomach and food pipe X-rays are performed by physicians to know the pattern of development of cancer within the stomach.
Biopsy: Your doctor will prescribe a biopsy to diagnose any form of cancer, particularly stomach cancer to know the growth of cancer cells within the stomach.

Risk Factors Related to Stomach Cancer

There are several kinds of risk factors that are harmful to the body and might prove to be fatal for stomach cancer. Some of those factors are listed here as follows:

Gastric ulcers.
Lack of exercise and workout.
Obesity and people with abnormal body weights.
Development of lumps in the gastro-intestinal tract.
Eating unhealthy foods like meat, oily and spicy foods more frequently.
Excessive smoking, drinking, or consumption of any other kind of drugs.
Bacterial or any other type of infections in the stomach, for example, H. Pylori.
Genetic abnormalities, or the presence of abnormally- mutated genes in the family traits.

Treatment Of Stomach Cancer

Various methods are followed for treating stomach cancer, the method of treatment largely depends on the severity of the disease and the stage cancer has currently developed within the body of a particular individual. Some of the methods of treating stomach cancer are as follows:

Chemotherapy

Radiation therapy

Lymph node removal

Subtotal gastrectomy

Total gastrectomy

Chemotherapy

This is a type of cancer treatment, and probably the most commonly prescribed method where the surgeons use drugs or medications that are applied to the cancer cells to destroy them and to check the spreading of cancer, or further cancer growth.

Radiation therapy

Some high-intensity of rays or light beams are used to apply to cancer-affected areas of the body to damage the cancer cells. This therapy is widely used as radiation therapy in oncology.

Lymph node removal

In this therapy, the lymph nodes of the affected areas or the damaged lymph nodes are destroyed using medications.

Subtotal gastrectomy

It is a form of surgery, through which the cancer-affected cells or the portion of the stomach that is damaged by cancer are removed through surgical methods.

Total gastrectomy

This is another form of surgery used to treat stomach cancer in which the stomach is removed, and the food pipe gets attached to the small intestine.

FAQs

Can I survive after having stomach cancer?

There are pretty good chances of survival after getting properly treated with stomach cancer, if only the disease is not severe in case of that particular individual, and it is not detected at a very late stage when it is barely treatable.

For how long do I need to stay in hospital after surgery of stomach cancer?

This entirely depends on the severity of your condition and how long your concerned health care specialist advises you to remain under health care supervision. But, on an average, a person will require at least 3 to 10 days to stay in hospital after surgery.

Will I still be able to eat after the stomach cancer surgery?

Obviously, after the surgery and recovery from stomach cancer, the amount of food consumption will gradually decrease and the person will be able to eat less amounts of food substances, but he or she should eat according to the amount prescribed by the concerned health care expert.