Stomach cancer

Stomach cancer, or gastric cancer, is a fairly uncommon type of cancer. 

The initial symptoms of stomach cancer are vague and easy to mistake for other less serious conditions. They include:

persistent indigestion and heartburn trapped wind and frequent burping feeling very full or bloated after meals persistent stomach pain

Symptoms of advanced stomach cancer can include:

blood in your stools, or black stools loss of appetite weight loss

As the early symptoms of stomach cancer are similar to those of many other conditions, the cancer is often advanced by the time it’s diagnosed. It’s therefore important to get any possible symptoms of stomach cancer checked by your GP as soon as possible.

Read more about diagnosing stomach cancer

Symptoms

Many symptoms of stomach cancer are similar to less serious conditions, so it can be difficult to recognise in the early stages.

Early stage symptoms include:

persistent indigestion trapped wind and frequent burping heartburn feeling full very quickly when eating feeling bloated after eating feeling sick pain in your stomach or breastbone difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) vomiting (the vomit may be streaked with blood), although this is uncommon in the early stages