Digestive Problems
Diseases: Stomach and Duodenum: Other Tumors
Lymphomas (malignant tumors of lymph tissue) uncommonly affect the gut, but when they do, the stomach is the site most often affected. Some of these lymphomas, although malignant, are not very aggressive (low grade) and seem to be closely associated with HP infection. These tumors are often referred to as "MALTomas" and may shrink or even disappear following antibiotic therapy for the infection. Other lymphomas are more aggressive and behave like lymphomas found elsewhere in the body. The symptoms they produce and their diagnosis is the same as for cancer of the stomach and management consists of a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and possibly radiotherapy.
Several different benign tumors may occur in the stomach. These usually arise from within the stomach wall. Most are discovered coincidentally when patients undergo endoscopy because of indigestion or other symptoms. Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) is an excellent test for assessing the nature of these and determining which layer of the stomach wall is involved. Depending on the exact type of benign tumor, many of these can simply be left alone and observed. For those which need to be removed, many can be removed at endoscopy while a few require surgical removal.