This cancer has almost no symptoms in its early stages.

Strictly speaking, digestive tract tumors may not have any symptoms in the early stages.

There are no symptoms in the early stages of gastric cancer. Even if there are, they are similar to common indigestion, gastritis, and gastric ulcers and are easily overlooked.

It is very regrettable that the detection rate of early gastric cancer in my country is less than 10%, which has a lot to do with the fact that early gastric cancer has no special symptoms.

If you have the following symptoms and they persist for a period of time, you must pay attention to them: get checked immediately!

1. Upper abdominal pain.

About 1/4 of patients have the same pain pattern as peptic ulcer, while the elderly have dull pain perception, mostly manifested as abdominal distension, upper abdominal pain accounts for about 30%-70%. If the above abdominal pain often recurs, or the relief is getting shorter and shorter, you should be alert.

2. Feeling of fullness in the upper abdomen.

It is often the earliest symptom of gastric cancer in the elderly, sometimes accompanied by belching, acid reflux, and even nausea and vomiting. If the tumor is located at the entrance of the stomach, the patient may feel difficulty in eating; if the tumor is located at the exit of the stomach, when pyloric (exit) obstruction occurs, the patient may vomit out rotten overnight food.

3. Loss of appetite, weight loss, and fatigue.

According to statistics, about 50% of elderly patients have obvious loss of appetite, increasing weight loss and fatigue, and about 40%-60% of patients seek medical treatment due to weight loss.

4. Hematemesis, black stools and occult blood in stool are positive.

In the early stages of gastric cancer, there may be signs of minor bleeding.

7%-15% of cases can cause vomiting blood, and 23%-45% can cause black stools.

The positive rate of fecal occult blood was higher, with the positive rate for gastric body cancer accounting for 87.6% and for cardiac cancer accounting for 64.4%.

If the stool occult blood test is persistently positive, it will be helpful in the diagnosis of gastric cancer.

A simple trick can detect early gastric cancer

The best way to defeat the enemy is gastroscopy .

Gastroscopy is a procedure in which a gastroscope with an "ultra-micro camera" on the front end is inserted through the mouth. Through the doctor's manipulation, the internal conditions of organs such as the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum can be "live broadcast".

The stomach is connected to the mouth through the esophagus, throat and mouth. Due to the existence of this natural entrance, the doctor can insert a gastroscope into the mouth and directly see the changes in the gastric mucosa. If any part that looks like there may be a problem is found, the doctor can use forceps to directly remove the suspicious tissue and let the pathology doctor observe under a microscope to see whether cancer has occurred or whether there is a tendency to cancer, thereby truly achieving early and non-invasive diagnosis.

Once polyps, tumors, early cancer, bleeding, etc. are found, relevant treatments can be carried out under gastroscopy.

Currently, there are technologies such as magnification, staining, and ultrasound that can not only detect micro-cancers at the millimeter level, but also detect tumors outside the gastric cavity.

If gastric cancer can be detected through gastroscopy in the early stages, for example, when the cancer is still confined to a thin piece of mucosa and has not metastasized anywhere else, we can peel it off. Some cases do not even require surgery. Through gastroscopy, we can remove the diseased tissue without surgery or chemotherapy, with less pain, better recovery and a higher survival rate.

This is the significance of timely gastroscopy. No matter how advanced the treatment method is or how expensive the medicine is, it is not as good as "early detection".

These people are recommended to do gastroscopy in time

1. Unexplained weight loss and loss of appetite

If you normally have a normal appetite and weight, but suddenly become unexplainedly thin and have no appetite, you should have a gastroscopy to understand the condition of your stomach.

2. Frequent stomach discomfort

There are upper gastrointestinal symptoms, including upper abdominal discomfort, bloating, pain, heartburn, acid reflux, swallowing discomfort, choking, belching, hiccups, etc.

3. Family history of gastric cancer

If there is someone in your family who has died of gastric cancer, you should also have regular gastroscopy examinations. Because gastric cancer is somewhat hereditary, regular examinations can help you rule out the occurrence of gastric cancer and can also help you detect gastric diseases in time, so that you can receive timely treatment when gastric diseases are discovered.

4. Pain in the stomach

If you have unexplained stomach pain or upper abdominal pain, you should undergo a gastroscopy in time. There may be problems with the stomach that cause unexplained pain around the stomach. Examination at this time can reflect the situation in a timely manner.

5. People who have undergone gastric surgery

If a patient has undergone gastric surgery, he or she needs to undergo regular gastroscopy. Regular gastroscopy can help you understand the condition of your stomach after the operation, especially for patients who have undergone tumor resection. Gastroscopy can help you understand whether you have experienced a recurrence.

6. People who have vomiting blood and black stools

Patients with bleeding above the pylorus often have vomiting blood and black stools, while patients with bleeding below the pylorus may only have black stools. However, patients with lesions above the pylorus with a small amount of bleeding and a slow bleeding rate may only have black stools, while patients with lesions below the pylorus with a large amount of bleeding and a fast bleeding rate may have vomiting blood due to blood reflux into the stomach.

7. Precancerous diseases

Chronic atrophic gastritis, gastric ulcer, post-gastric surgery, verrucous gastritis, etc. are all precancerous diseases of gastric cancer and should be regularly examined by gastroscopy every six months to a year.