What are the symptoms of stomach cancer?

Sometimes cancer can grow in the stomach for a long time before it causes symptoms. In the early stages, stomach cancer can cause the following symptoms:

• Indigestion, stomach discomfort or heartburn
• Nausea or loss of appetite
• Feeling tired

When the cancer is larger, it can cause the following symptoms:

• Blood in your stool
• A bloated feeling after eating
• Vomiting
• Unexplained weight loss
• Stomach pain

Many of these symptoms can be caused by conditions other than cancer. However, if you have any of these problems and they don¡¯t go away, talk with your doctor. The earlier stomach cancer is found, the better the chances are that it can be cured.

If your doctor suspects that you might have stomach cancer, he or she will look at your medical history and do a complete physical exam. Your doctor may want you to get an x-ray test of your stomach. For this test, you drink a liquid containing barium. Barium is a chalky substance that coats the lining of your stomach. This makes it easier for doctors to see on the x-ray.

Your doctor might use endoscopy (say: "in-dos-ko-pee") to try to see the tumor. For this exam, a thin, lighted tube is put into your mouth and passed down to your stomach. Your doctor may give you medicine before the test so that you feel no pain.

During endoscopy, your doctor might take a small piece of your stomach to check for cancer cells. This is called a biopsy sample. The sample is then sent to a lab where it is looked at under a microscope.