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What is stomach cancer?
The stomach is a muscular sac-like organ in the upper abdomen. It is part of the digestive system. Organs of the digestive system change food into energy and help pass waste out of the body.
Food moves from the mouth through the esophagus to the stomach. In the stomach, the food is mixed with digestive juices (enzymes and acids), which are made by the glands in the lining of the stomach. The semi-solid mixture leaves the stomach through a muscular ring called the pylorus and passes into the small intestine. From there, food goes to the large intestine, where digestion is finished.
The wall of the stomach has four layers. Stomach cancer begins in the cells of the inner layer, which is called the mucosa. It can spread through the other layers of the stomach as it grows.
Stomach cancers that start in the lymphatic tissue (lymphoma), in the stomach’s muscular tissue (sarcoma) or in the tissues that support the organs of the digestive system (gastrointestinal stromal tumour) are less common and are treated in different ways. For information on those cancers, contact our Cancer Information Service at 1 888 939-3333. Last modified on:
07 January 2009
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