Gastrointestinal sarcoma is a rare malignant formation. The main difference between cancer and sarcoma is that cancer originates from epithelial cells, and sarcomas are usually not tied to any organs. But, like other cancers, they are prone to metastasis and to infiltrating growth with the destruction of neighboring tissues. Most often, the sarcoma of the stomach is localized in the body of the organ and much less often in other departments.
By the nature of growth of this kind of neoplasm divided into the following types:
- Endogastric tumor. It grows in the lumen of the organ, looks like polyps, rarely reaches large sizes. Diagnose it when the patient has a violation of the patency of the food lump.
- Exogastric tumor. It arises from the submucosal layer of the organ, grows into the abdominal cavity. Can reach impressive sizes. Symptoms of the disease manifest themselves when squeezing neighboring organs.
- Infiltrating tumor. This species is most common, as a rule, sprouts along the wall of the stomach, can be of large size, usually sprouting into surrounding tissues.
- Mixed tumor. It can grow differently both in the lumen of the stomach, and the side, is characterized by a slow growth, in this case, the predictions are more favorable.
Sarcoma of the stomach - what are the symptoms?
Symptoms of gastric sarcoma can be very diverse. Some malignant neoplasms can for a long time not behave themselves at all. As a rule, they are discovered by chance, when the patient comes to the examination for a completely different matter.
Basically, patients complain of dyspepsia, namely, bloating, heaviness in the stomach, nausea and weakness. In addition, people with this cancer have decreased appetite, increased irritability, depressiveness and fatigue.
It is difficult to recognize the disease at an early stage, usually patients get to the hospital when the tumor reaches a large size. With sarcoma of the stomach, patients do not have serious complaints, the disease is calm, the tumor can be in a localized state for a long time.
If the sarcoma has metastasized to other organs, the symptoms may be different depending on the location of the metastases. In later stages of the disease, tumors that grow in the lumen of the stomach begin to bleed. The patient may experience vomiting with blood impurities or a tarry stool that will also indicate internal bleeding.
Sarcoma of the stomach, how many live?
Treatment for each patient is assigned individually, it all depends on the degree of organ damage, the presence of metastases and the general condition of the patient. As a rule, surgical intervention is applied, the organ can be removed partially or completely. Also, chemotherapy can be used as an auxiliary method of treatment, it destroys malignant cells and prevents metastasis.
Many patients are concerned with the question of how many live with gastric sarcoma? Here everything is individual, if the tumor was detected at an early stage, and the operation was carried out on time, then the predictions are usually favorable. At the last stages of the disease with multiple metastases in other organs, the person is already difficult to help, in this case, there is palliative treatment.
There is also a possibility of death after surgery, mainly due to possible complications, for example, when the sarcoma spreads to the lymph nodes. A more accurate prediction is given by the attending physician, taking into account the stage of the disease and the general condition of the patient.