Stomach Cancer

Several different stomach cancer treatment options are available depending on the type and stage. 

Stomach cancer surgery

If the stomach cancer is operable, a range of surgeries are available to excise it depending on the type and stage, from laparoscopic surgery featuring tiny incisions and quicker recovery time to full stomach reconstruction.

Minimally invasive stomach cancer surgery

If your stomach cancer is operable, our surgeons may perform a subtotal or partial gastrectomy (removal of part of the stomach containing the cancer) or a total gastrectomy (removal of the entire stomach, connecting the esophagus to the small intestine).

• Laparoscopy - Results in smaller incisions, less blood loss and less pain after surgery, a quicker recovery, and a shorter hospital stay
• Robotic stomach cancer surgery - Patients who can have minimally invasive surgery may have it performed robotically. The robot enables your surgeon to operate with greater magnification of the surgical field and more precision in using surgical instruments
• GIST surgery - If you have a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) — a rare and slow-growing type of gastric tumor that usually begins in the lining of the stomach — doctors may use a combination of endoscopy and laparoscopy to remove the tumor
• D-2 lymphadenectomy - A technically challenging surgical procedure performed during gastric cancer surgery that removes cancerous lymph nodes and reduces the chance of further cancer spreading
• Stomach reconstruction - There are three major stomach cancer reconstructive surgeries: gastroduodenostomy, gastrojejunostomy, and Roux-en-Y. The choice of procedure depends on your health status and surgical preference. If stomach surgery is an option for you, your surgeon will discuss your reconstruction choices, which are designed to help you retain stomach function

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, given in intravenous infusions, may be used before or during surgery to shrink the size of the tumor, or it could be used after surgery to kill off any remaining cancerous cells.

• Trastuzumab - If you have a stomach cancer that makes too much of a protein called HER2, you may receive trastuzumab, which targets this protein
• Imatinib - People with GIST most often receive imatinib, a targeted chemotherapy drug extremely effective for treating this type of cancer. You can take it each day by mouth at home
• Advanced cytotoxic chemotherapy - Most individuals with stomach cancer will benefit from chemotherapy

Radiation therapy

Precise radiation therapy may be used in concert with chemotherapy to kill any remaining cancer cells after surgery.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is the use of drugs to boost the immune system so that it can better discover and kill cancer cells.

Targeted drug therapy

Chemotherapy works by killing fast-growing cells to treat stomach cancer and thus has side effects of normal growing cells in your body. Newer drugs are being developed that work differently than chemotherapy. They inhibit specific growth pathways that are used by cancer cells. These drugs often come in pill form.