What is malignant stomach ulcers? Complicated course of the disease, in which the primary ulceration of the mucosa degenerates into a malignant neoplasm.
The pathological process of malignancy is observed on average in 6% of gastroenterological patients.
An oncological disease often develops from a healed scar at the bottom of the ulcer or in one of its edges. As the medical practice shows:
- an ulcer diagnosed in the stomach at a large curvature, in nine out of ten cases is malignant,
- malignant ulceration located in the lower third of the organ, occurs in eight of the ten patients,
- in the cardiac part of the stomach in half of the patients find cancer, which originated from an ulcer.
Malignant gastric ulcer can open at different times of the disease in patients of any age. But most often malignant pathology occurs in elderly and old patients with prolonged chronic peptic ulcer, taking place against a background of low acidity of the stomach.
Ulceration, exceeding in diameter one and a half centimeters, is more susceptible to malignancy. But as recent studies have shown, the size of the defect is not critical in the degeneration of the ulcer into cancer.
The causes of degeneration into an oncological tumor are not fully understood. Scientists call a number of factors that adversely affect the outcome of the disease:
- Genetic predisposition( near malignant relatives was previously diagnosed with ulcer malignancy);
- Improper diet, the diet abounds in roasted smoked food and lacks vegetables and fruits;
- Hot food;
Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Malignancy of the ulcer rarely shows vivid clinical symptoms at an early stage of the disease. Therefore, oncologists-gastroenterologists draw the attention of patients with chronic peptic ulcer to insignificant signs capable of indicating a malignant process that began in the stomach:
- A change in the course of the disease: the cycle, periodicity, the periods of remission disappear;
- Characteristic pain symptoms change. Pain becomes less abrupt, unstable. Pain sensations during malignancy of stomach ulcers are not related to meals;
- Conservative therapy and a therapeutic diet do not improve health.
- Impairment of well-being, causeless weakness, decreased appetite, weight loss, aversion to food made from meat.
Malignant gastric ulcer is diagnosed in the same ways as the common ailment:
1 . FGS( fibrogastroscopy) is the main way to detect cancer. When conducting a defect study, the doctor takes the material for further biopsy in several places. A histological examination performed will give an accurate result about the nature of the formation in the gastric mucosa.
2 . X-ray with contrast medium is also able to recognize a malignant tumor having a large immersed niche, of an irregular trapezoidal shape, surrounded by extensive infiltration. The edges of the niche are characteristically altered: wide, asymmetrical high, uneven, as if undermined.
3 . General tests, ultrasound, laparoscopy, tomography.
Treatment of a malignant ulcer is performed similarly to the treatment of stomach cancer by surgery. The scope and technique of the operation is determined by the doctor, based on the stage of the disease and location.