The woman’s yellow eyes and abdominal pain were symptoms of stomach cancer

• A woman with abdominal pain and yellow eyes was diagnosed with cancer.
• Doctors wrote in the report that yellowing eyes are a “rare” first sign of stomach cancer.
• Early symptoms of stomach cancer include: bloating after eating, heartburn and loss of appetite.

A woman whose eyes turned yellow was diagnosed with an advanced disease stomach cancer who killed her, according to the report.

The unnamed woman (52) had abdominal pain for three weeks, and the whites of her eyes turned yellow, the doctors wrote in the report. published in Cureus Journal of Medical Science December 13.

She was also sick, had lost weight, had no appetite and felt more tired than usual, doctors working in the US and India wrote.

Yellow eyes are a sign of advanced stomach cancer

A series of tests revealed that the woman had a type of stomach cancer called gastric adenocarcinoma. It grew so much that it squeezed the tube that carries digestive juices between the stomach and the small intestine.

The blockage caused a build-up of a yellowish substance called bilirubin, which turned the woman’s eyes yellow. Gallstones and an inflamed pancreas can also block this passage resulting in yellow eyes and skin.

Doctors wrote in the report that yellow eyes are a “rare” first symptom of stomach cancer.

According to the National Cancer Institute, yellowing of the eyes and skin can be a sign of advanced stomach cancer, which can also cause: blood in the poop, unexplained weight loss, vomiting, and trouble swallowing.

Early symptoms of the disease include: bloating after eating, heartburn and loss of appetite.

Stomach cancer accounts for about 1.5% of all new cancers diagnosed annually in the US, according to the American Cancer Society. People are diagnosed at an average age of 68, and it is more common in men than women, it said.

Treatment depends on how far the cancer has spread

According to the National Cancer Institute, treatment options and how long someone with stomach cancer lives depends on how far the cancer has spread and the person’s general health. In this case, the woman had other health problems, including high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

Doctors treated the woman with surgery to relieve her symptoms, but not to cure her, which is called palliative surgery. The cancer had spread to her colon and could not be removed by surgery.

The woman was discharged home after surgery, but refused further chemotherapy treatment and died two months later, the report said.

In 2022, about 26,380 new cases of stomach cancer will be diagnosed, and about 11,090 people will die from it, estimated by the American Cancer Society.