Cancer Health Center

Gastric cancer may also be called stomach cancer. The major type of gastric cancer is adenocarcinoma, or cancer of the glandular tissue in the stomach. Other rarer forms of stomach cancer include lymphomas (cancer involving the lymphatic system) and sarcomas (cancer of the connective tissue, such as muscle, fat, or blood vessels).

Risk of gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is the fourteenth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Although the incidence of stomach cancer in the United States has decreased since the 1930s, gastric cancer is a major cause of death worldwide, especially in developing countries.

Anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a risk factor. Some of these risk factors for gastric cancer are as follows:

PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS: If you already have one of the following conditions, you may have a higher-than-average risk of developing stomach cancer: chronic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, pernicious anemia, gastric polyps, or Helicobacter pylori infection of the stomach.

OLDER AGE: Two out of every three people diagnosed with gastric cancer are older than 66 years of age.

FAMILY HISTORY: If you have a mother, father, brother, or sister who has had stomach cancer, you may have a higher-than-average risk of developing gastric cancer.

DIET AND LIFESTYLE: If you smoke cigarettes and eat many salted, smoked, or poorly preserved foods but few fruits and vegetables, you may have a higher-than-average risk of developing gastric cancer.