Gastric Cancer Often Silent Early, Highlights Turkish Gastroenterology Expert

Associate Professor Nimet Yılmaz of SANKO University explains that gastric cancer typically shows no symptoms in its early stage, making early detection difficult. The disease ranks as the fifth most common cancer worldwide and fourth in cancer‑related deaths, occurring about twice as often in men as in women.

Risk factors include high‑salt diets, processed or smoked meat, low intake of fruits and vegetables, infection with Helicobacter pylori, smoking, obesity, chronic atrophic gastritis, pernicious anemia, and exposure to radiation. About 5‑10 % of cases have a familial or genetic component.

Early signs, when present, are mild and can be mistaken for less serious conditions: loss of appetite, slight weight loss, upper‑abdominal discomfort and post‑meal bloating. Advanced disease may cause persistent nausea, vomiting, difficulty swallowing, iron‑deficiency anemia, chronic fatigue, and visible or occult gastrointestinal bleeding.

Diagnosis relies on upper endoscopy with targeted biopsy. Yılmaz recommends that individuals with a family history of gastric cancer begin endoscopic screening at a younger age. Treatment plans are personalized and may involve endoscopic resection, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy, selected according to tumor size, location, stage and patient health.