What Are My Treatment Options?

As previously mentioned, surgery is often the most critical part of the treatment process for gastric cancer, especially in cases where the disease is localized and has not spread extensively beyond the stomach.

The goal of surgery is to remove the cancer, along with part or all of the stomach, depending on how much the cancer has spread. Surgeons aim to ensure that no cancer cells are left behind, which gives patients the best chance at long-term survival.

For patients whose cancer is at an earlier stage, surgery can often be curative. Surgery may still be an option even for patients with more advanced cancer.

Systemic therapies, like chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy, may also be used. Eligibility for these treatment approaches will depend on several factors, like the stage of the cancer, the patient’s general health, and the results of biomarkers testing.

Treating Advanced Gastric Cancer

When gastric cancer has spread beyond the stomach and surgery is not an option, it’s important to realize that there are still several treatment options and approaches. They just may look a bit different than the approach to more localized cancer.

Dr. Nicholas J Hornstein, a medical oncologist at Northwell Cancer Institute in Manhattan, tells SurvivorNet that treatment at the advanced stage is a “bit of a marathon” rather than a sprint.

“In advanced cancers, we focus on things a little bit differently. Now it’s a bit of a marathon: we’re trying to sequence therapies in a way to provide patients for the best quality of life for as long as possible,” Dr. Hornstein explains.

“We employ a variety of different systemic therapies. These are treatments that go through the entire body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or targeted therapy. Those are the three major buckets of treatment that I think of when I counsel patients.”

Eligibility for these systemic treatments depends on several factors, including stage of the cancer, previous treatments, biomarkers testing, general health, and allergies, among other factors.