Only 25% to 40% of patients with gastric carcinoma will have localized disease at diagnosis and will be eligible for potentially curative surgical resection.
1 Bleeding, pain, and obstructive symptoms (dysphagia, nausea, vomiting) are common in patients with advanced cancers and can significantly impact quality of life. Tumor bleeding, whether overt (ie, melena, hematesis) or occult (ie, chronic iron-deficiency anemia), can result in interruptions in chemotherapy treatment, fatigue, dyspnea, frequent hospitalizations or blood transfusions, and exacerbation of pre-existing cardiopulmonary…