How to distinguish superficial gastritis from gastric cancer

Gastrointestinal diseases are very common in clinical practice. Both superficial gastritis and gastric cancer are gastrointestinal diseases. Gastric cancer is a painful disease that tortures patients all the time and makes them feel miserable. What is the difference between superficial gastritis and gastric cancer? What is gastric cancer like? Let's take a look at the following introduction.

Superficial gastritis is not an inflammation of the entire stomach, but more precisely, an inflammation of the gastric mucosal layer. The early lesions are relatively superficial (superficial gastritis). As they develop over a long period of time, the lesions continue to deepen and damage the gastric secretory glands in the mucosa (atrophic gastritis), but the lesions are still in the mucosal layer. The most common symptoms of chronic gastritis are upper abdominal pain, discomfort, and fullness. These symptoms are characterized by worsening after meals, but are more comfortable when the stomach is empty. In addition, belching, acid reflux, loss of appetite, and fatigue are also common, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding should not be ignored.

The common symptoms of gastric cancer are: abdominal bloating: may be accompanied by warm feeling, acid reflux, nausea, vomiting, etc., which are particularly obvious when eating. Usually patients feel full after eating a small amount of food and no longer want to continue eating. It is more common in elderly patients with gastric cancer, and the location is mostly under the xiphoid process or to its right, and it is sometimes misdiagnosed as a gallbladder disease.

Abdominal pain: It is usually manifested as dull pain in the upper abdomen. The pain is mild and tolerable. It is not related to eating and usually occurs during rest. As the elderly have a dull sense of pain, it often manifests as abdominal distension.

It is generally believed that superficial gastritis usually does not turn into malignant disease, while atrophic gastritis is most closely related to gastric cancer. However, simple atrophic gastritis is only a background disease of gastric cancer. When it further develops into intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia, it is considered a precancerous lesion, of which about 10% will turn into gastric cancer.

The above is an introduction to the difference between superficial gastritis and gastric cancer. I hope it will be helpful to patients and friends.