The stomach cancer treatment depends upon the number of factors like, stage of cancer, general health of the person and person.s age and fitness. The treatment options are surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It is always easier to control and cure the cancer if it is diagnosed early.

1. Surgery: The surgery is the most important stomach cancer treatment and is a major operation. The surgery depends on the stage or extent of the cancer. Accordingly total or partial gastrectomy of the stomach is done including some of the surrounding tissue. Lymph nodes near the tumor are also removed which reduces much chance of cancer coming back. A person might recover completely if the stomach cancer is detected at a very early stage. In some situations when the stomach cancer is advanced, a laser beam which is directed through an endoscope can be used to vaporize the tumor leading to relieving obstruction without being operated.

Partial gastrectomy is done i.e. only part of the stomach is removed if the cancer is at the end of the stomach that connects the duodenum. If subtotal gastrectomy is done then the remaining part of the stomach is connected to the esophagus and the small intestine.

Total gastrectomy wherein the total stomach is removed is carried out if the cancer is in the middle of the stomach. If the complete stomach is removed then the esophagus is attached directly to the small intestine.

The problems which occur after gastrectomy is vomiting, diarrhea as the small intestine fill quickly with the undigested food. Some people might also experience leakage or obstruction where the intestinal tract has been reconstructed.

Esophagogastrectomy: This stomach cancer treatment involves removal of the part of the gullet if the cancer is located where the stomach is joined to the gullet. The top portion of the gullet is joined to the small bowel in a reconstruction.

2. Chemotherapy: This stomach cancer treatment involves use of drugs to kill cancer cells. The chemotherapy medications are either injected through a vein or taken orally. These medicines travel through the blood stream and destroy the cancer cells if they are left behind after surgery or also treat cancer if spread to the other parts of the body. The growth of the cancer could also be controlled by chemotherapy. It might lead to prolonged life and might relieve the symptoms. A combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy is also given after surgery if the cancer is locally advanced in the stomach which might help increase the possibility of survival.

3. Radiotherapy: In this stomach cancer treatment high energy X-rays are used to destroy the cancer cells. Radiation affects those parts of the body through which the rays pass. The radiation beams are aimed very carefully so that they don.t destroy the healthy tissues. Generally, radiation that comes from a machine outside the body is used along with chemotherapy. The common side effects are burn on the skin, nausea, vomiting and fatigue.

4. Antibiotics: Antibiotic therapies are given to patients having gastric lymphoma which destroys the bacteria causing cancer under this stomach cancer treatment. A patient is carefully observed if suffering form this type of cancer as more aggressive therapy could be administered.

5. Targeted drug therapy: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors that contain certain specific genetic mutation could be treated with anti-leukemia drug which has been approved by Food and Drug Administration. Imatinib is taken in a capsule once every day which target specific genetic mutation and do not cause any harm to the healthy tissues. The side effects of this treatment of stomach cancer are also milder which are muscle cramps, rash and nausea.