Table of contents:
- The main cause of stomach cancer (stomach)
- Risk factors that increase the chance of stomach cancer
- 1. Increasing age and male gender
- 2. H. pylori bacterial infection
- 3. Smoking habits
- 4. Poor diet and obesity
- 5. Have had surgery on the stomach
- 6. There are certain health problems
- 7. Family cancer syndrome
Cancer can attack any part of the body, including your stomach and stomach lining. This is characterized by symptoms of stomach or stomach cancer in the form of heartburn, flatulence, and persistent vomiting. However, do you know what causes stomach or stomach cancer, as well as the risk factors that increase the likelihood? Check out the following reviews.
The main cause of stomach cancer (stomach)
Scientists have indeed found various factors that increase the risk of stomach cancer. However, the exact cause of this cancer is unknown.
Most argue, the cause of cancer that attacks the lining of the stomach and stomach is a mutation in cell DNA. Mutations cause DNA, which contains cell instructions and functions, to become damaged.
Cells that are supposed to divide, grow, and die normally are acting out of control. These cells continue to divide and continue to live, causing buildup and eventually forming a tumor.
The emergence of these cancer cells can originate from the mucosal, submucosal, muscle, connective and serous layers. Initially, cancer begins around the innermost layer, namely the mucosa, which over time spreads to the outer layer.
Risk factors that increase the chance of stomach cancer
Although the main cause is unknown, researchers have found a variety of things that can increase the risk. The existence of this risk, makes a person have a greater chance of developing cancer in the digestive system.
Each type of cancer has different risk factors. Some of them can be changed so that the risk decreases, but some cannot be changed.
More specifically, the factors that cause an increased risk of cancer in the stomach or stomach lining, namely:
1. Increasing age and male gender
According to the American Cancer Society website, stomach and stomach cancer is most common in men than women. In addition, the risk of this disease increases rapidly in people over 50 years of age and is generally detected in the 60s to 80s.
Age is the cause of the increased risk of stomach cancer or stomach cancer because it is related to the performance of organs, tissues and cells which are also decreasing in health.
2. H. pylori bacterial infection
Helicobacter pylori bacteria, abbreviated as H. pylori, is a bacteria that lives in the mucus layer of the human digestive tract. These bacterial colonies often dig up the mucus surface in the digestive tract, causing inflammation and gaping sores.
H. pylori sores due to chronic infection are reported to be one of the factors causing the increased risk of stomach and stomach lining cancer.
Inflammation and sores caused by H. pylori bacterial infection can cause damage to the cells in your digestive system. Cell damage over a long period of time can lead to genetic mutations. Mutations or genetic changes are what then turn normal cells into cancer cells.
3. Smoking habits
Smoking not only increases the risk of lung cancer, but also other types of cancer, such as stomach cancer and cancer in the lining of the stomach.
Researchers concluded that this could occur because cigarettes contain chemicals that are carcinogenic. These chemicals that enter the body can flow into the blood, causing inflammation, which in turn can trigger the body's cells to act abnormally.
4. Poor diet and obesity
Poor diet often leads to obesity (excess body weight). Well, these two things can later be the cause of the high risk of stomach cancer or stomach cancer in a person.
This unhealthy diet includes consumption of cancer-triggering foods, such as eating too many baked goods and preserved fish and meat. Then, the timing and portions of inappropriate meals also make eating patterns worse.
5. Have had surgery on the stomach
The high risk of stomach cancer has also been seen in people who have had an abscess surgery in the stomach. This cancer usually develops years after surgery is carried out.
This increased risk is most likely caused by the stomach producing too little acid, which makes nitrite-producing bacteria more vigorous and eventually triggers cancer.
6. There are certain health problems
The cause of the increased risk of stomach and stomach cancer is having other diseases, namely:
- Pernicious anemia: Cells in the stomach that don't produce enough IF and cause a vitamin B12 deficiency. This condition can interfere with the red blood cell production process.
- Menetrier disease: An overgrowth of the lining of the stomach which causes folds and low levels of stomach acid.
- Gastric polyps: Small lumps in the lining of the stomach, such as adenomatous, can develop into cancer.
- Stomach lymphoma: This type of lymphoma in the stomach causes the surrounding cells to become abnormal.
- Epstein-Barr virus (infectious mononucleosis): This disease increases the risk of stomach lymphoma as well as stomach cancer.
7. Family cancer syndrome
The cause of the high risk of stomach cancer or stomach cancer could be due to family cancer syndromes, such as:
- Hereditary diffuse gastric cancer: People with this syndrome inherit a mutation in the CDH1 gene, giving them a 70-80% risk of developing cancer throughout their lifetime.
- Lynch syndrome: An inherited genetic disorder in the MLH1 / MSH2 genes as well as MLH3, MSH6, TGFBR2, PMS1, and PMS2.
- Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP): A condition that makes a person prone to having polyps in the stomach, stomach wall and intestines, caused by mutations in the APC gene.
- People who have inherited breast cancer: This person inherits a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene that increases the risk of stomach cancer.
- Li-Fraumeni syndrome: People who inherit a mutation in the TP53 gene, making them prone to triggering stomach cancer at a young age.
- Peutz-Jeghers syndrome: This syndrome causes the development of polyps in the gastrointestinal tract due to a mutation in the STKI gene. The risk of other cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer also increases.
Knowing the causes helps your doctor determine which stomach cancer treatment is right for you. Starting from chemotherapy, surgical removal of tumors in the stomach, to radiotherapy. But before that, you need to undergo a series of medical tests first.
