Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine

Introduction: Early stage gastric cancer is usually asymptomatic. It is not until later stages of the disease, usually with metastasis, that patients typically develop symptoms that would prompt further evaluation.

Case Report: We present a case of a patient with chronic back pain who was found to have a gastric antral mass as the etiology of her pain. The patient proceeded to have a partial gastrectomy with complete surgical excision of her early-stage gastric cancer, after which her chronic back pain resolved.

Conclusion: This case demonstrates the importance of considering significant pathology in patients presenting with chronic complaints to the emergency department.