If chronic stomach pain changes, be alert to stomach cancer

Clinically, the early symptoms of some gastric cancer patients are not bloating and other indigestion phenomena, but pain in the epigastric region. According to statistics, 30% of gastric cancer patients will experience this symptom.

It is precisely because of this common symptom of stomach pain that gastric cancer is easily confused with gastric ulcer and duodenal bulb ulcer. The primary symptoms of gastric ulcer and duodenal bulb ulcer are dull pain or burning pain in the upper abdomen, but the pain of the latter is more likely to occur before meals or on an empty stomach, or to start two hours after a meal, and can wake people up at night. This pain is often called "hunger pain" or "empty stomach pain", so this pain can be relieved by eating. Gastric ulcer belongs to the category of "pain when full", that is, the pain starts when eating, and it will not be relieved until the food is partially or completely emptied 1.5 to 2 hours after eating.

It is not difficult for doctors to make a differential diagnosis for this characteristic stomach pain. However, when early gastric cancer is accompanied by the above two diseases, gastric cancer is often overlooked because the pain of ulcers masks the pain of gastric cancer. In addition, gastric antral cancer is also prone to cause changes in duodenal function, which can cause rhythmic pain and symptoms similar to ulcers.

In fact, if you observe carefully, you will find that the pain caused by ulcers is relatively regular, while the pain caused by gastric cancer, although it varies in severity within 24 hours, is relatively difficult to find regularity or persistence. For those who have never had stomach pain in the past, if they suddenly have recurring stomach pain, or if the pain pattern of the original chronic gastric disease changes, such as the regularity of pain on an empty stomach or after eating, which has disappeared recently, or the original effective treatment drugs are no longer effective, the possibility of gastric cancer should be considered and further examination should be carried out to confirm the diagnosis.