Stomach Cancer

Stomach Cancer

In the United States, about 21,000 people are diagnosed with stomach cancer annually, and 10,000 die of the disease. Worldwide, stomach cancer is much more common, in part because of high rates of infection with the bacterium H. Pylori, which was found in the 1990s to increase the risk of stomach cancer, ulcers, and other stomach problems.

Since the late 1980s, major research findings have improved options for patients with early stage disease. While full surgical removal of the stomach (gastrectomy) was previously the only option to potentially cure early stage stomach cancer, studies showed that a partial removal of the stomach was just as effective for many patients. Other research found significant improvement in long-term survival with the addition of adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy.

For patients with advanced disease, survival remains relatively low and effective new treatments are urgently needed. Through clinical trials, doctors continue to refine chemotherapy regimens in ways that extend patients' lives and significantly delay problems like loss of appetite and weight loss.

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1881

First successful surgery performed for stomach cancer

First successful surgery performed for stomach cancer

In 1881, the Austrian physician Theodore Billroth partially removes the stomach of a 43-year old woman suffering from a gastric obstruction. Sixteen years later, Carl Schlatter takes the surgery further and completes the first total gastrectomy, or complete removal of the stomach.

For nearly a century afterward, gastrectomy remains the only treatment available for gastric cancer. While it offers a chance of cure for patients whose tumors have not spread, patients are limited to eating only small amounts of food at a time and are at risk for vitamin B deficiency, chronic low blood sugar and anemia.