Gastrectomy involves removing part of, or the entire stomach. This may be done for benign conditions such as damage from severe ulcer disease, tumours with malignant potential, or cancers. This can be done open (big incision), or laparoscopically ("key hole"). Gastrectomies range from relatively minor, with little or no long term effects to the patient, to quite major.

Treatment of gastric cancer is complex and requires extensive investigations and coordination among specialiaties including radiologists, gastroenterologists, surgeons, and oncologists.