A 13-year-old girl in China was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer after experiencing abdominal pain and bloating for about a year.
By the time she was examined at the hospital, the cancer had already spread to several parts of her body.
Doctors also said surgery was no longer a viable curative option for the teen.
According to a UDN report, the girl was in extremely poor health when she was finally admitted to the hospital.
Her family allegedly dismissed her symptoms as digestive problems and did not seek medical attention until her condition worsened.
Source: HK01
An enhanced CT scan at the hospital found a malignant tumour in her stomach.
It had also spread to her liver, abdominal cavity, retroperitoneal area, omentum and both ovaries.
Subsequently, the girl was diagnosed with gastric signet-ring cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of stomach cancer.
Doctors said the extensive metastases meant she had missed the opportunity to get surgery that would cure the disease.
Doctors later learned that the teen frequently ate homemade pickled and salt-baked dishes.
When regular meals were unavailable, she ate instant noodles and barbecued food.
Source: jatuphol on Canva, for illustration purposes only.
This reportedly led to chronic malnutrition and a fragile immune system, causing her to be prone to bacterial invasion and cell mutation.
Further testing also found that the girl was positive for Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium passed through close contact or contaminated food or water that irritates the stomach lining.
The hospital’s gastroenterology director Tang Weihong said both the girl’s dietary habits and H. pylori infection are risk factors that could have affected her stomach health.
Source: Pantai Hospital, for illustration purposes only.
Dr Tang warned parents not to assume that children are too young to develop serious gastrointestinal illnesses.
She advised seeking medical attention if symptoms such as recurring abdominal pain, bloating or loss of appetite persist.
Additionally, she urged families to limit their consumption of heavily salted and preserved foods, and to get screened regularly to detect health issues early.
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Featured image adapted from HK01 and jatuphol on Canva, for illustration purposes only.