Gastric (Stomach) Cancer Treatment in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
In some instances of gastric cancer, surgery may be an effective treatment to cure the malignancy. Especially in the case of small gastric cancers, surgery might be the first step in the treatment process. If the tumors have grown deeper into the stomach and spread to the lymph nodes, stomach cancer surgery might be combined with other treatment methods, such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or immunotherapy.
Gastric cancer surgery may include:
- The removal of smaller tumors from the lining of the stomach. Tiny tumors can simply be cut from the stomach lining’s inside. Typically, surgeons pass a tube down the throat into the stomach, and special cutting tools are also passed through the tube to remove the tumors. This procedure is called endoscopic musical resection. This can be an option to treat stage 1 cancer that’s developing on the stomach’s inner lining.
- Removing a part of the stomach: Surgeons call this procedure subtotal gastrectomy. The experts remove the part of the stomach that’s affected by cancer, along with parts of healthy tissue around it. Often, this will be the best surgical route to take if the gastric tumor is near the small intestine.
- The removal of the entire stomach: During total gastrectomy, surgeons remove the whole stomach and some of the surrounding tissue. After this, the surgeons connect the esophagus with the small intestine so food would still move along the digestive system. This surgical approach is recommended when the tumors are in the part of the stomach nearest to the esophagus.
- Removing the lymph nodes: As a part of stomach cancer treatment, the surgeon may remove the lymph nodes in the stomach to see whether the malignant cells have spread.
- Surgery to help manage symptoms: Surgery may help with symptom relief and might be an option if the cancer has advanced greatly, and other treatments fail to help.
Effective Stomach Cancer Surgery in Fort Lauderdale
Early detection is always crucial in effective treatment. As a matter of fact, early-stage or stage I stomach cancers can usually be easily removed from the stomach’s inner lining without any complications. Still, if the tumors grow into the muscle layer of the wall, other approaches might be recommended, or more intricate surgeries may be required.
In the case of later-stage (stage II and III) cancers, experts may recommend chemotherapy and radiation therapy as treatments to shrink the tumors. This might also make their removal easier. Still, in these cases, surgery will most often involve removing at least some of the lymph nodes and a considerable part (if not all) of the stomach.
In cases of stage IV stomach cancer, the tumors have spread to nearby organs, and surgery might not be an option anymore, or other treatments will be used first to shrink the tumors, but parts of the affected nearby organs are removed as well.
