Will residual gastric cancer metastasize to the esophagus?

Will residual gastric cancer metastasize to the esophagus? Once cancer spreads, it will cause great harm to our body, just like gastric cancer. Many patients are taking active measures to prevent this from happening, so patients must learn about the relevant knowledge in advance. Now let our experts introduce to us the ways in which gastric cancer spreads, hoping to help you.

1. Hematogenous metastasis. In some patients, gastric cancer cells or cancer thrombi may spread to other organs throughout the body through the blood circulation. They may metastasize to the liver, lungs, bones, kidneys, spleen, brain, meninges, skin, and ovaries, forming ovarian Krukenberg carcinoma or ovarian mucinous cell carcinoma. Hematogenous metastasis often occurs in the late stage of gastric cancer. In addition to treating the primary lesion, the metastatic lesion must also be treated.
2. Direct spread. After the cancer grows and invades the stomach wall, it develops in depth, breaks through the serosal layer, and can directly invade adjacent organs and tissues, most commonly the greater omentum, liver, pancreas, and transverse colon, followed by the jejunum, diaphragm, and even the abdominal wall. Direct spread is related to the surgical method and whether radical resection can be performed. Generally, when the spread is to adjacent organs, such as the liver, it can be surgically removed if the area is small and limited. When the area is large, it is difficult to completely remove the entire area.
3. Lymph node metastasis is an important way for gastric cancer to spread, and it occurs relatively early. As the tumor grows, the deeper and wider it invades the stomach wall, the more chances it has of metastasis. It is divided into 3 stations or 3 groups according to the order of metastasis. The first group is close to the tumor and is a superficial group of lymph nodes attached to the stomach wall. It usually occurs when gastric cancer is confined to the submucosal layer. The second group is the deep group of lymph nodes that drain the superficial lymph nodes. When gastric cancer invades the muscular layer, the second group of lymph node metastasis may occur. The third group includes lymph nodes around the celiac artery, abdominal aorta, liver hilum, mesenteric root and middle colic artery; distant lymph node metastasis may also occur, such as the left supraclavicular lymph nodes. This group of metastasis mostly occurs when the tumor invades the serosa. Generally speaking, when the third group of lymph node metastasis occurs, the chance of radical cure has been lost.
4. Intraperitoneal implantation and metastasis of gastric cancer cells. In rare cases, the tumor breaks through the gastric wall serosa, and the cancerous tissue necrotizes and falls off, which then fall onto other organs and the peritoneum, and implantation growth may occur. In the late stage, cancerous peritonitis may occur, and there may be bloody ascites. Sometimes cancer cells can be found in the extracted ascites. Patients with implantation metastasis are all in the late stage, making treatment more difficult. They are often given chemotherapy drugs injected into the abdominal cavity, but due to extensive metastasis, they can only prolong life but cannot be cured.