There are many diseases and conditions of stomach which cause many problems to people. Dwelling upon the most serious ones which lead to much pain, peptic ulcer disease and stomach cancer are the most spread ones. Depending on the stage of a disease and the ways of treatment, it is possible to live for a long time with any of these diagnoses. However, there are also cases when people failed to treat the diseases which led to death. The main idea of this paper is to dwell upon peptic ulcer disease and stomach cancer, the causes of the diseases, signs and symptoms, and how the diseases are diagnosed.
Peptic ulcer disease is the gastrointestinal tract problem characterized by the “defects in the gastric or duodenal mucosa that extend through the muscularis mucosa” (Wilkins, & Welchman, 2010, p. 49). The most spread causes of a peptic ulcer disease are H. pylori infection and the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. However, such infections as “cytomegalovirus, tuberculosis, Crohn’s disease, hepatic cirrhosis, chronic renal failure, sarcoidosis, and myeloproliferative disorder” (Ramakrishnan, & Salinas, 2007, p. 1005) also affect human beings and may be the reasons of the disease development. Epigastric pain that lasts for several weeks and even months is the main symptom of the disease. This pain may intensify during the mealtime or after two or three hours after eating. Many patients report about bloating, nausea, belching, and anorexia while diagnosing the problem, however, these symptoms may point to many other problems, therefore, they are considered as the supporting ones (Wilkins, & Welchman, 2010). An outpatient oesophagogastroduodenoscopy is one of the most spread types of disease diagnosing. Ramakrishnan and Salinas (2007) have conducted a research where they have defined the following tests as the main ones for diagnosing peptic ulcer disease, they are EGD, contrast radiography, Serologic ELISA, Urea breath test, Stool antigen test, Urine-based ELISA and rapid urine test, and Endoscopic biopsy.
Stomach cancer is defined as a disease “in which the cells in the stomach divide without control or order and take on an abnormal appearance; these cancerous cells often spread to nearby organs and to other parts of the body” (Ferrara, 2010, p. 1579). Stomach cancer is also known as the gastric cancer. The disease causes are not considered up to the end and there are no strict issues which may be characterized as the reasons of the disease appearance. However, there are a number of risk factors which increase the chances to get the stomach cancer, they are high-salt diets, cigarette smoking, and Helicobacter pylori bacteria (Torpy, Lynm, Glass, 2010). This disease does not cause any discomfort at the first stages of its development. This is a very dangerous issue as people are unable to diagnose the problem at the early stages. The treatment of the disease is complicated by the fact that the symptoms are usually similar to the less serious problems such as indigestion, heartburn, or a virus. The main symptoms of the stomach cancer are discomfort or pain, vomiting and bloating after meals, anemia, general weakness and fatigue, weight loss. The following symptoms are more identifying, they are vomiting blood or passing black, and tar-like stools (Ferrara, 2010). Blood tests, endoscopy, x-rays and computed tomography are the main ways to diagnose the disease (Torpy, Lynm, Glass, 2010).
Reference List
Ferrara, M. H. (2010). Human Diseases and Conditions. London: Charles Scribner’s Sons/Gale Cengage Learning.
Ramakrishnan, K., & Salinas, R. C. (2007). Peptic ulcer disease. American Family Physician, 76 (7), 1005-1012.
Torpy, J. M., Lynm, C., Glass, R. M. (2010). Stomach Cancer. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 303(17), 1771.
Wilkins, A., & Welchman, S. A. (2010, July 23). Peptic ulcer disease. GP, 49-50.