This is the most common treatment for stomach cancer. The goal is to remove the entire tumor and any cancer cells that may have spread to nearby tissue. If the cancer is only in your stomach, surgery may be all that you need. Or you may have surgery before or after another treatment.

This treatment uses high-energy beams of X-rays or particles to kill cancer cells. The main goal of radiation is to kill cancer cells and reduce the chance the cancer will come back (called recurrence). Sometimes it’s used to reduce the symptoms of cancer. These can include pain, blockages, or bleeding.

The goal of chemotherapy (chemo) might be to shrink a tumor, destroy cancer cells, ease symptoms from the cancer, or help prevent cancer recurrence. Chemo is rarely used for early-stage stomach cancer, which has not spread. But it may be the main treatment if the cancer has spread beyond the stomach to other parts of the body. Chemo can be used before surgery. This is called neoadjuvant therapy. Or it may be given after surgery. This is called adjuvant therapy.

These are medicines that target specific parts of stomach cancer cells to kill the cells or slow their growth. These medicines work differently from regular chemo medicines. They’re used to treat certain types of stomach cancer and advanced stomach cancer that's not responding to other treatments.

Your healthcare provider may advise that you have more than 1 of these types of treatment. This is sometimes called combination therapy. Newer types of treatment may be available only through a research study. This is called a clinical trial. Talk with your healthcare provider about what clinical trials may be an option for you.