What should you know about gastric cancer symptoms?

Symptoms can include indigestion, upper-abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, feeling full sooner than expected, difficulty swallowing, or loss of appetite. Some people notice unplanned weight loss, tiredness from anaemia, or black stools caused by bleeding. These symptoms can also occur with non-cancerous digestive conditions, so a symptom alone cannot identify its cause.

Helicobacter pylori infection can affect the stomach and is one condition doctors may consider when assessing ongoing symptoms. The pattern, duration, examination, and test results guide next steps.

Book a medical assessment if digestive symptoms persist, recur, or interfere with eating. Keep a short record of meals, pain, vomiting, stool colour, appetite, and weight changes. A clinician may arrange blood tests, stomach examination with a camera, imaging, or a tissue sample. Treatment depends on the findings and may include surgery, chemotherapy, HER2-targeted therapy, or immunotherapy.

Seek urgent care for vomiting blood, black or bloody stools, severe persistent abdominal pain, fainting, inability to keep fluids down, or rapidly worsening weakness. Difficulty swallowing that prevents drinking also needs prompt assessment.

Which symptom needs testing first? Could anaemia or bleeding be present? Should I be tested for Helicobacter pylori? What would an endoscopy show? When will results be available?