CLEVELAND — The country music world is mourning the loss of superstar Toby Keith, who lost his two-year battle with stomach cancer Monday night at the age of 62.
The American Cancer Society says stomach cancer makes up about 1.5% of all new cancers in the U.S. each year. The problem is that it's usually diagnosed in later stages when survival rates are significantly lower.
By the time more obvious symptoms appear, such as pain, unexplained weight loss or bloody and/or black stool, the cancer has advanced.
Those most at risk include men over age 65 of East Asian, South or Central American or Eastern European descent. Especially those who may be obese, smoke, drink alcohol and eat lots of processed meats with few fruits and vegetables.
Early symptoms appear similar to common stomach ailments.
"Things like acid reflux, stomach upset. A lot of people describe to me the feeling of fullness very quickly after eating. They may have just a few bites and feel full and bloated very quickly," said Cleveland Clinic Hematology and Medical Oncologist Suneel Kamath, MD.
There isn't a common screening tool for stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, although blood tests are being researched. This type of cancer is usually diagnosed with an endoscopy.
"It's something that definitely is easy to find at an early stage if we do the right studies and investigate things aggressively. Endoscopy, uses a camera to look inside the stomach and esophagus and very readily will find this type of cancer. But really, I think the key is we have to get to that step better and more often," Dr. Kamath said.
University Hospitals helped developed a test called ESOCheck.
"It's a capsule you swallow in the office, it goes down to the stomach and we blow up a balloon in the stomach and it collects cells in the upper stomach and lower esophagus. Then we can check for DNA for cancer," said Amitabh Chak, MD Gastroenterologist, UH Digestive Health Institute, UH Cleveland Medical Center; Professor of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
While stomach cancer rates are relatively low in the U.S. doctors are seeing cases rise in younger people and women.
"The stomach cancer in the lower stomach is not rising in this country. Stomach cancer of the upper stomach and the esophagus has been rising dramatically. They're both starting with obesity. But we don't really understand why it's going up rapidly," Dr. Chak said.
Another reason why people need to be their own advocates and be proactive if symptoms last several weeks and over the counter medications aren't working.
"Stomach cancer is relatively aggressive and so we definitely see that if you wait that long from when symptoms first start, it's often found at a late stage," Dr. Kamath said.