Stomach (Gastric) Cancer
Your stomach is a muscular, hollow organ that serves as the body’s natural food processor (see Figure 5). Located on the left side of your upper abdomen, it is highly elastic, stretching to accommodate the food and fluid you consume. Stomach enzymes help break down and digest food so it can move on through the digestive system.
Stomach cancer can start in any part of the stomach. Your doctor will consider the size and location of the tumor, along with other factors, before recommending one, or a combination of, the following treatments.
Surgery, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy may be used to treat stomach cancer. An immune checkpoint inhibitor is approved as a treatment in certain instances for people whose stomach cancer has metastasized (spread elsewhere in the body) or recurred (returned) (learn more about immune checkpoint inhibitors).