Will gastritis turn into stomach cancer if it is not cured?

Gastric diseases are generally chronic diseases. Gastritis is a very common gastric disease, and many patients do not pay attention to it. They do not actively seek treatment during the acute stage, which causes gastritis to develop into chronic gastritis, which takes time to treat. Many patients cannot recover from gastritis and worry that it may develop into gastric cancer. So, if gastritis is not cured, will it turn into stomach cancer? Let’s take a closer look below.

As the saying goes, a three-foot-thick ice does not form overnight. The occurrence of gastric cancer is also not something that happens overnight, but a gradual process. Chronic gastritis and gastric ulcer, gastric polyps, residual stomach after surgery, pernicious anemia and giant gastric mucosal hypertrophy are all "precancerous diseases" of gastric cancer. These precancerous diseases can significantly increase the risk of gastric cancer, but it does not mean that gastric cancer will definitely develop after being diagnosed with them.

In other words, precancerous diseases of gastric cancer are not equal to gastric cancer after all. These are two different pathological processes. Unless chronic gastritis develops atypical hyperplasia after many years.

Although not all stomach diseases will eventually develop into stomach cancer, patients with four types of stomach diseases should be particularly careful about cancer.

Atrophic gastritis. The final outcome of most atrophic gastritis is gastric cancer, and some people even believe that atrophic gastritis is the "precursor stage of gastric cancer." It is recommended that patients with atrophic gastritis undergo a gastroscopy every two years to detect gastric cancer at an early stage.

Large stomach ulcer. A large gastric ulcer is one with a diameter greater than 2 cm. Once a large ulcer is discovered, it should be treated immediately and for at least 6 weeks. After the ulcer is healed, regular check-ups are required, with intervals of six months or one year.

polyp. Once gastric polyps are detected, regardless of size, they must be removed and a pathological examination should be performed.

Remnant stomach. A part of the stomach is removed due to a disease and is called a remnant stomach. There is also a close connection between remnant stomach and gastric cancer. Some studies have shown that if the remnant stomach exists for more than 5 years, the risk of developing gastric cancer increases. Therefore, patients with residual stomach who have undergone gastric surgery are reminded to undergo gastroscopy every year.

Although not all precancerous diseases will turn into gastric cancer, they must still be strictly prevented.

First of all, patients with precancerous diseases should have regular physical examinations. Gastroscopy is an important means of secondary prevention of gastric cancer and is generally performed once a year, and once every six months for severe cases. During gastroscopy, the specimen must be sent for pathological examination, and special attention should be paid to atypical hyperplasia.

Secondly, strengthening the treatment of diseases such as chronic gastritis is an important measure to prevent gastric cancer. Recent studies have confirmed that Helicobacter pylori is a biological factor that causes gastric cancer. After eliminating Helicobacter pylori infection in the stomach, the risk of precancerous lesions and gastric cancer can be reduced by 40%. The combined use of antibiotics is the only effective measure for treating Helicobacter pylori-related diseases.

Finally, the most important line of defense against gastritis is closely related to your lifestyle. More and more studies have shown that the nervous system and digestive system are closely related. Therefore, only by strengthening confidence in treatment, eliminating tension, and working closely with medical staff can gastric cancer be nipped in the bud.