The stomach ulcers, also known as gastric ulcers, they are painful sores in the stomach lining and are a type of peptic ulcer disease. Peptic ulcer is called any ulcer that affects both the stomach and small intestine.
Stomach ulcers appear when the thick layer of mucosa that protects your stomach from digestive juices is reduced. This allows digestive acids to eat the tissues that line the stomach, which causes an ulcer.
Stomach ulcers can be easily cured, but they can get worse without proper treatment. Stomach ulcers are almost always caused by one of the following factors:
An infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), or long-term use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen.
A complicated stomach ulcer will require surgery. This may be the case with ulcers that:
- keep coming back
- They bleed
- Rip through the stomacho
- Prevents food from leaving the stomach into the small intestine
Surgery may include:
- Removal of the entire ulcer
- Take tissue from another part of the intestines and place it on the site of the ulcer
- Ligate a bleeding artery
- Cut off the supply of nerves to the stomach to reduce the production of stomach acid