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Treatment
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a medication that is given as a pill or in the vein through an IV or central line. It can be used to treat stomach cancer in different ways. A patient may have chemo before surgery to shrink the tumor or have chemo after surgery to ensure all the cancer is destroyed.
Chemo works by attacking and destroying the cells in the body that divide quickly. This can lead to some bad side effects like nausea, vomiting, mouth sores, hair loss, and much more.
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Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays focused on a specific spot of the body to destroy cancer cells. Like chemotherapy, radiation can be used before or after surgery to ensure all the cancer is destroyed. It can also be used when surgery isn’t an option to shrink the tumor.
Also like chemo, radiation has some unwanted side effects. You can have skin blisters, redness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Surgery
Surgery for stomach cancer aims to remove as much of the cancerous tumor as possible. It is not always possible to have surgery for stomach cancer, especially if the cancer has spread. There are several different approaches to stomach cancer surgery and surgery may be used in conjunction with other therapies like chemotherapy or radiation.
If you need stomach surgery ask your surgeon how much of the stomach will be removed. “Some surgeons try to leave behind as much of the stomach as they can, which might allow patients to eat more normally afterward. However, the main goal of surgery is to be sure all the cancer has been removed,” says the American Cancer Society.
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