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Awareness Campaign!

The need for awareness, support, and mobilization is urgent. Gastric cancer and Pancreatic cancer are both rare and often very aggressive. Both of these kinds of cancers tend to present at late stages, making effective treatment more difficult and harder to access. Critically, patients dealing with these cancers often face delayed diagnoses - including cases that go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed. For some, treatments like cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC (a procedure to circulate heated chemotherapy directly into the abdomen) can be lifesaving, but only if patients are diagnosed early and referred to specialists who understand their disease.

November is Gastric and Pancreatic Cancers Awareness Month! Join us all month long as we share information about these cancers to increase knowledge and bring attention to the importance of supporting patients and caregivers on their cancer journey.

Together we can make a difference!

Most people - patients, caregivers, doctors, and hospitals - don’t know enough about abdominal cancers and how to treat them. By joining with the Alliance and supporting these efforts, you are helping to:

Raise awareness so more people can learn about symptoms and take action to get diagnosed sooner
Connect patients, survivors, caregivers, and families to expert care and peer support
Promote research for better treatments and outcomes
Walk beside those affected by these often-overlooked diseases

Learn About These Cancers

All month long, we'll be sharing key things to know about these cancers and what patients and caregivers can do about them. Follow along on our News page to learn more!

Key Resources

Gastric cancer is a rare and aggressive cancer that develops in the stomach, which is responsible for breaking down food during digestion. Most (90-95%) gastric cancers begin in the stomach’s inner lining and are called adenocarcinomas. Gastric cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. However, its incidence has been steadily declining over the past few decades, now representing only 1.5% of all new cancer cases in the United States.

Learn more about gastric cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a rare but aggressive disease that is often diagnosed at an advanced stage due to vague early symptoms, with up to 80% of cases identified too late for curative surgery. Peritoneal metastases are present in up to 14% of patients at diagnosis and occur in 40–50% of recurrences, contributing to severe symptoms and limited treatment options.

Learn more about pancreatic cancer

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is a highly specialized and advanced procedure. It involves surgically removing all visible tumors, followed by the circulation of heated chemotherapy directly in the abdomen to kill remaining microscopic cancer cells.

Learn about CRS/HIPEC

Surgery for cancers like ovarian cancers and peritoneal mesothelioma is a rapidly evolving field. It is neither possible nor advisable to offer a one-size-fits-all recommendation for every patient. And it is important to find a specialist who understands the patient's diagnosis. By seeking multiple opinions, patients stand to gain perspective, access additional expertise, and increase confidence in their decisions.

Finding multiple opinions

Many facilities across the United States and around the world are now performing the CRS/HIPEC procedure, so there may be a high-quality care provider near you. But not all care providers have the same level of expertise. It is important for patients and caregivers to advocate for themselves and evaluate potential care providers!

Questions to ask your physician

Managing ovarian cancers and peritoneal mesothelioma requires special skill and experience, so it is important to find a specialist who knows how to treat the diagnosis. Specialized treatment like CRS/HIPEC should only be performed by a highly experienced surgical oncologist with expertise in the procedure.

Finding a specialist

Join a Special Peer-to-Peer Campaign!

As someone connected to abdominal cancers, you know better than anyone how difficult this journey can be. Your experience and the journey you've taken makes these cancers more visible. Your story helps to ground the realities that these patients and caregivers face in a real, lived, human experience.

That’s why your voice is so powerful!

We’ve launched this peer-to-peer campaign to raise awareness for a host of abdominal cancers and raise funds to fuel our mission - and we’d love to have you join as a member of the campaign team!