New treatment choices provide added hope for gastric cancer patients, Mayo Clinic doc says

An increase in recent treatment options has given new hope for patients of stomach cancer, aka gastric cancer.

A recent article by Jason Howland of the Mayo Clinic News Network quotes Dr. Mohamad Sonbol, an oncologist at the clinic as saying that "I tell patients who have recently been diagnosed with gastric cancer that there is definitely a hope because we've gotten significantly better in the last decade, and more specifically, really, in the last year or two."

Dr. Mohamad Sonbol

Options depend on the cancer's location in the stomach, its size and stage, Howland's story indicates, "but can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy."

If you're a man, the piece also says, you're at higher risk for stomach cancer than if you're a woman. 

Other risk factors include obesity, smoking, and drinking alcohol.

Still other risk factors, says Sonbol, "are some hereditary syndromes or things that we inherit from our parents."

Early signs of stomach cancer vary, the story notes, "and can include abdominal pain, blood in the stool or just feeling tired."

Stomach cancer, the piece maintains, is relative rare in the United States, so it's frequently diagnosed at later stage of the disease "when symptoms like nausea, heartburn and feeling bloated are more pronounced."

More information about disease risks can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.