Gastric cancer

Is the third most common cause of cancer- related death in the world

Causes Diet Helicobacter pylori infection Previous gastric surgery Pernicious anemia Adenomatous polyps Chronic atrophic gastritis Radiation exposure

Diet pickled vegetables, salted fish, salt, and smoked meats correlates with an increased incidence of gastric cancer

Smoking Both for number of cigarettes and for duration of smoking. Smoking increases the risk of cardiac and noncardiac forms of stomach cancer

Helicobacter pylori infection H pylori may infect 50% of the world's population, but many fewer than 5% of infected individuals develop cancer. It may be that only a particular strain of H pylori is strongly associated with malignancy

Genetic factors Some 10% of stomach cancer cases are familial in origin

Obesity Obesity increases the risk of gastric cardia cancer.

Bisphosphonates No significant difference was observed for increased risk of esophageal or gastric cancers between the bisphosphonate cohort and the control group

Lab Studies Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is increased in 45-50% of cases Cancer antigen (CA) 19-9 is elevated in about 20% of cases