Test for stomach cancer

After that doctor has taken medical history. He is able to decide on the that of examination to proceed with to confirm if you really have cancer. It is therefore advisable to communicate with him extensively about your symptoms and past illness. If possible make a note of all issues before visiting him, so that he can plan a further investigation as soon as possible.
Here are some possible examinations that may be recommended by your physician he suspects stomach cancer:

• Gastroscopy: an endoscope is carefully pushed through the mouth through the throat into the stomach. The camera at the distal end of the endoscope takes images of the inside of the stomach and sends it to the monitor. Avoid eating or drinking prior to the examination. The throat is anesthetized to prevent pains when inserting the endoscope and when moving it within the stomach. During the examination the doctor can decide to take a sample of the tissue which can be send to a pathologist for further examination. Through this the physician can be sure is there is really a cancer or not. If under certain circumstances the results are still doubtful, an ultrasound can be used to examine the different layers of the stomach.
• Ultrasound: the physician can use this method to examine the inside of your stomach, including various organs to see if there any changes like if there is a metastasis or if the tumor has increase its size. This can depict good images and can clearly display even small tumors.
• CT Scan: X-ray images are taken at different angles of the stomach to produce images in different layers allowing the physician to see the inside of the stomach without cutting, as a result the location of the tumor can be clearly displayed.
• Radiography: Prior to the examination, a contrast medium is given orally, several x-rays are then taken from the upper region of stomach. With this, the physician is able to say how big the tumor has developed. However with this examination he can say nothing about if the mucous membrane if affected or not. Although using this method by breast cancer can reveal there is a metastasis in the lungs.
• Bone Scintigrahy: this a nuclear test to find out if there is a metastasis in surrounding bones. A radioactive substance is injected before the x-ray is taken.If the bone is affected it can tell if the its better to operate or to irradiate.
• MRT: this technic uses high frequency magnetic fields to send signals to organs which in turn display tomographic images, a contrast substance can also be used here, to clearly depict tumor. This method takes a little bit more time than the other methods, however one is not contaminated to radiation. Be careful here, since the examination is done under high magnetic field avoid wearing metal items like neck lace, earrings, implantation etc. Your doctor should brief you this before the test.
• PET:this is used in nuclear medicine to observe metabolic process in the body. A tracer (which is filled  with a radioactive substance) is given. This can be traced by the PET system which displays this a a three diamensional image.
• Laparoscopy