Stomach cancer (also called gastric cancer) is an abnormal and
unregulated growth of the cells that make up the stomach. The
stomach is a pouch that holds and stores food after eating, and
helps in the process of digestion. When you chew and swallow
food, it travels from your mouth down a muscular tube called the
esophagus. The esophagus delivers food to your stomach. The
stomach is made up of a variety of cells, including some that
produce substances that aid in digestion, such as acid and
enzymes. Food from the stomach enters the duodenum, the first
part of the small intestine, where digestion continues. Under
certain conditions, stomach cells undergo changes that result in
uncontrolled growth, and these cancer cells grow more rapidly
than normal stomach cells. Cancer cells also lack the ability to
organize themselves in a normal way and have the capability to
invade other normal tissue. If stomach cancer is caught very
early, it may have only affected the lining of the stomach,
called the mucosa. The longe