Stomach Cancer Therapy

Question: I know H Pilori is related to stomach cancer, how often should I get tested? My dad's grandmother, his father and his brother and he all had stomach cancer. Both my brother and I were tested positive with H Pilori and have taken the triple therapy.

Answer: This is a potentially serious situation. You have a remarkably strong family history and may have a damaged gene causing stomach cancer. In some cases, preventative surgery is needed. You need to go to an expert University center specializing in cancer genetics and/or gastrointestinal malignancies.

Question: Where can I find a cancer clinic that provides photo dynamic therapy? A very dear friend of mine is only 24 and has cancer of the stomach in its later stages.I have heard that PDT treatment can be very effective and would like him to get the treatment asap. money is not an issue

Answer: Consult an Oncologist (Cancer specialist).

Question: chances of surviving stomach cancer my dad has been diagnosed with stomach cancer in the mid stage this june he has been undergoing chemo therapy and radiation since. he had it five years earlier it went away im wondering what are the chances of succesful surgery and completley curing it

Answer: not sure. i do know i have a friend that had it and it was cured before it was in the second stage. check webmd.com for resources

Question: What is the long term side effects of chemo and radiation therapy after total gastronomy surgery? My brother had a surgery 8 months ago to remove the entire stomach after diagnoised stomach cancer after the surgery he had a combination of chemo and radiation therapy , he finished about 3 months ago, and he made CT it was free , now he start to suffer from neck and back pains , some times hard swallowing and stomach pain , is that noraml long term side effects and what the best way of treat that, his next check will come after 1 month

Answer: Hello, i have had also had a complete gasterectomy, a partial pancretectomy and a spleenectomy due to a gastrointestinal stromel tumor so i understand what your brother is going through. If you need some perspective on what i went through, and what i did to help myself(mind you a doctor is always first consulted) please go to http://www.positivecancer.com The posts under mystory explain what i've been through, but i think that quite a few of the posts related to diet, exercise might be of help. the stomach and swallowing pains are very very normal, and mine lasted for some time. His doctor as probably already informed him about dumping syndrome, but if not ask about it. I know that for me i had to relearn how to eat smaller portions, and i still(3 years) cannot eat and drink at the same time. For the first while i would suggest he separate eating and drinking by an hour. Everything else you have said is normal, and with the neck and back pains, make sure that it's not any kind of pleural iffusion(its an infection) because i had that also. Complications after serious surgury and chemo are very very common, but hang in there, and tell your brother the same. Check out the website, and you can of course, email me directly or through the site if you have any more questions. Good Luck.

Question: Stage 3B Stomach Cancer.? My wife has just been diagnosed with stage 3B stomach cancer. I am worried to death about her. Here is what I already know.. Her cancer has spread to the outermost layer of the stomach wall and is found in 15 lymph nodes near the tumor. ~That is all french to me~ What does that even mean? I also know that the doctor is going to start neoadjuvant therapy. What is this? What is going to happen to her? What is going to be the side effects of this? What can or should I do to help her? Once again, I am turning to the answer board for help. Please give me any and all advice. Thank You!

Answer: I am sorry about your wife. I suggest you go to her doctor’s appointments with her so that you can hear what the doctor has to say and ask any questions you may have. In the mean time I will try to answer the questions you have asked here. “Her cancer has spread to the outermost layer of the stomach wall and is found in 15 lymph nodes near the tumor….. What does that even mean?� It means she has advanced disease. The tumor started inside her stomach and went through the stomach wall and is now on the outside surface of the stomach too. Cancer spreads to other parts of the body either through the bloodstream or through the lymph nodes and she has a lot of lymph nodes with cancer. Neoadjuvant therapy is therapy before surgery verses adjuvant therapy, which is therapy after surgery. Chemo is better tolerated before surgery in stomach cancer patients. The side effects can vary from person to person, but you have bigger concerns than that. The 5-year survival rate for someone in her position is only about 5%. I am very sorry. Best of luck to you both.

Question: H. Pylori...Is it necessary to get stomach cancer if H.Pylori was positive? I have stomach ache for 3 days (moderate) and i have been smoking for 13 years now....I had the same pain 3 years back and had all the tests and some doctors said it is not clear in scanning but it is appendicities but some doctors said it is gastritis....I tested positive for H. Pylori 2 months back and took thriple therapy, tested again in blood came back positive but was negative when tested in stool... I have heart burns, indegistion and irregular bowel systems... What are the chances of getting stomach cancer from H.Pylori bacteria.. and if medicines will eradicate this bacteria. what tests to be done to check for stomach cancer.

Answer: H. pylori is a risk factor for stomach cancer it is not the cause. There are several other risk factors as well, but smoking is not one of them. You cannot base odd on a single risk factor and nothing else. If you get rid of the H. pylori you get rid of a risk factor. There is no screening exam for stomach cancer. The same test is done whether it’s for cancer or ulcers, it’s an EGD.

Question: recently my dad was diagnosed with 2nd stage Carcinoma of stomach..or gastric cancer? my dad is 64 years old.he've went thru an operation where his whole stomach (total gastrectomy) has been removed.he hv to go for 6 cycles chemo & radiation now.how bad will the effect of after chemo & radiation.will it effect his kidney.? can my dad skip either chemo or radiation treatment.?what will the effects if he skips therapies?

Answer: Its always up to the individual if they want the treatment or not. It just depends on what kind of chemo drugs he gets on what the effects will be. My first time with chemo ,with one of the drugs had a .01% of possibly getting leukemia, to me, that was a low chance for saving my life. So far, so good, 3yrs out now. Radiation tighten up some the tissue,sometimes its uncomfortable, but I can live with it. I had breast cancer, so I in no way know how your dad feels. I wish you all the best God Bless

Question: Is it ever possible to get a flat stomach again after a bikini line hysterectomy? I had a traditional bikini line hysterectomy 3 years ago after a cancer scare. I always had a fairly flat stomach, not ripped and firm, but flat-ish. 3 years later, it seems the more I try to get my stomach down with diet and exercise, the more intent it seems to be on staying put. I am not on any type of hormone therapy, nor am I on any type of meds for anything at all. Is there a reason why my weight loss is stalled and my stomach is stayin put?

Answer: not in my world. it's been 15 yrs and i still have my "pooch".

Question: 3rd stage cancer any hope? well my aunt who i am very close to been diagnosed with 3rd stage lung cancer and and 1st stage stomach cancer or something around that area and shes gonna be doing her chemo therapy after she has surgery next week to remove the tumor (dont know where its at my parents dont wanna fill me in all the details so sorry for the scarce information) so my question is both those cancers 1 in third while the other is in first how long do you guys think she has left to live oh let me mention shes 63 cause after hearing the farrah fawcett story i became really sad and extremely worried for my aunt and like i said earlier this is my only aunt that im close to all the others i can never connect with

Answer: If what you report is accurate than your aunt probably does not have two types of cancer . . she has one that has 'metastasized' which means she is automatically a stage IV. From your description it would seem that the stomach cancer may be the primary cancer and the cancer in the lungs may be what is called 'mets' (metastatic) or a secondary cancer. No matter which cancer it turns out to be there is more than one location in her body that has cancer . . so she has stage IV or metastatic cancer. It is not impossible to treat and survive a stage IV cancer but it is far more difficult. The reason is because the cancer is no longer in just one location . . the original tumor has 'seeded' or shed microscopic cancer cells into her blood stream or lymphatic system. These microscopic cancer cells can travel all through the body and lodge in a new location to start a whole new cancer colony. If the primary tumor is in the stomach than those microscopic cancer cells are stomach cancer cells and they can travel through the blood and lodge in the lungs to create a secondary location for her cancer. This can be repeated all over the body . . making surgery difficult if not impossible. So treatment in general would be chemotherapy to try and bring the cancer under control. Radiation may be used to reduce the size of the tumors in the hope of being able to 'debulk' any or all visible tumors. The difficulty comes in that cancer is a progressive disease . . and it has already progressed to stage IV and shed new cancer cells . . trying to locate and kills off microscopic cancer cells is very hard . . just when you get one area under control it is possible for a whole new crop of cancer cells to begin growing in a new location . . which will happen indefinitely unless treatment can stop or control it. Still, successful treatment will depend on several factors . . the type of cancer, location of tumors, stage of disease, grade of tumor, age of patient, the patients overall health, and the patients first response to treatment. There are survivors of stage IV disease, but it will be a long road for your aunt with no guarantees. Hopefully her doctors will be able to find a medication that will help her to live with her cancer (keep it from growing by keeping it under control) . Rather than trying to 'cure cancer' doctors now sometimes focus on 'controlling the disease'. So your aunt could live comfortably with the cancer and still have good quality of life. Remember your aunt is not a statistic . . there is always hope. Best of luck.

Question: Why does a person that had a tumor and then had it removed have to take kemo-therapy and radiation.? The story is that the patient had a tumor in the enterence of the stomach. Then she had it removed. the Doctor made sure that that the cancer had not spread. So why does she still have to take kemo. and radiation? What about Radiation?

Answer: Zak, chemo does not emit gamma rays. That's radiation. I had a brain tumor and after the surgeon got ALL my tumor, I still underwent chemo and radiation to kill off any abnormal cells that haven't formed a tumor yet. I am now undergoing just chemo to make sure the tumor is not regrowing.