Nutrition During Stomach Cancer Treatment
It is important to eat well during and after
stomach cancer treatment. Patients will need the right amount of calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Eating well may help patients feel better and have more energy. However, eating well can be hard, especially during or soon after stomach cancer treatment. Patients may:
- Be uncomfortable or tired
- Find that foods do not taste as good as they used to
- Experience side effects of treatment such as poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
A registered dietitian can suggest ways to deal with these problems. Some patients may need to receive nutrition from a feeding tube or by injection into a blood vessel, while other patients may need to receive nutrition by nutritional beverage products.
Clinical Trials for Stomach Cancer Treatment
Before starting stomach cancer treatment, patients may want to consider taking part in a clinical trial. A treatment clinical trial is a
stomach cancer research study meant to help improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments. When clinical trials show that a new stomach cancer treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment may become the standard treatment.
Follow-up Care After Stomach Cancer Treatment
Follow-up care after treatment for stomach cancer is important. Even when there are no longer any signs of cancer, the disease sometimes returns because undetected cancer cells remained somewhere in the body after stomach cancer treatment. Your doctor will monitor your recovery and check for recurrence of the cancer. Checkups help ensure that any changes in your health are noted and treated if needed. Checkups may include:
- A physical exam
- Lab tests
- X-rays
- Computed tomography (CT) scans
- Endoscopy
- Other tests.
Between scheduled visits, patients should contact their doctor if they have any health problems.
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