The probe uses echoing sound waves that bounce off the tissue of the stomach wall. It s actually used to detect how far cancer has spread beyond the lining into the walls of the stomach and to nearby tissues or lymph nodes. However, other conditions can cause bleeding, so having blood in the stool does not necessarily mean a person has stomach cancer. Doctors use a process called staging to communicate how widespread a cancer may be. Risk factors Risk factors are conditions that increase a person s chance of getting a type of cancer.
Risk factors are different for various types of cancer.
Most people diagnosed with stomach cancer are in the 60-70 age range. Scientists believe that the dramatic decline in stomach cancer incidents in the US from the 1930s may be due to the increased use of refrigeration for food storage, rather than salting or smoking food for storage. Nitrites can be converted by other bacteria into compounds that have been found to cause stomach cancer in animals. Chronic atrophic gastritis is a possible precancerous change to the lining of the stomach. Also, risk may be increased, to varying degrees, for people with pernicious anemia, achlorhydria, Menetrier s disease, familiar cancer syndromes, stomach polyps, and blood group A. Avoiding risk factors can obviously lower stomach cancer risk, but it cannot guarantee protection.