Cancer Statistics - September 4th, 2009 - 2 Comments
Is it possible to have your entire stomach removed due to cancer, and still survive? Intravenous nutrition?
My husbands grandmother lives abroad and shes suffering from stomach cancer. I cant ascertain whether it has spread anywhere else, but if its just the stomach, the whole stomach, could it be entirely removed and her survive?
Yes, the entire stomach can be removed. Her surgeon would than attach the esophagus to the small intestine. Not sure what the quality of life would be after such a procedure, so you may want to do more research. I have heard that after a total gastrectomy that a patient can eventually begin eating ‘normally’ again, but will eat smaller portions. Our sons surgical oncologist told us that almost every thing in the body can be removed, replaced, or revamped other than organs critical to sustain life.
It is possible. For people suffering from stomach cancer like your husband’s grandmother, surgery is the most common treatment and give s chance of curing the cancer. What the surgeon does is to remove part or all of the stomach, as well as the surrounding lymph nodes, with the basic goal of removing all cancer and a margin of normal tissue. However, depending on the extent of invasion and the location of the tumor, surgery may also include removal of part of the intestine or pancreas.