Is Nausea a Sign of Cancer?

Nausea and cancer are often related in that nausea can be a side effect of treatment, but can nausea be a symptom of cancer itself?

If there is a tumor that lives in the colon, esophagus, stomach, or somewhere else in the bowel, it can cause a bowel obstruction. A bowel obstruction means that something — in this case, a tumor — is blocking the intestines and preventing solids and liquids from passing through to the colon. This can result in nausea or vomiting, according to Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, director of clinical research in the Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment Center at Dana-Farber.

Nausea and vomiting can also occur if there are tumors on the lining of the abdominal cavity, called the peritoneum, which can impair motility of the intestines and prevent food from being properly digested. This can be a common scenario in patients who also certain types of cancers, such as lung, stomach, ovarian, colon, pancreas, and appendix cancer.

A tumor in the brain can also increase pressure in the brain, which can induce nausea and vomiting. There are two types of brain tumors: Primary brain tumors, which form inside the brain, and secondary (metastatic) brain tumors, which originate somewhere else in the body. When cancer spreads from its original site to the brain, it’s known as brain metastasis. Lung, breast, melanoma, and kidney tumors are examples of cancer types that are more likely to spread to the brain, according to Ng.

It’s important to note that nausea can be caused by many different health problems, such as gallbladder disease, food poisoning, heart attacks, and ulcers. Nausea can also be caused by different kinds of cancer treatment, like chemotherapy and radiation – but due to improvements in drugs that treat nausea, many patients won’t experience these symptoms, or will only have mild discomfort.

“The anti-nausea drugs that we have these days are very good at managing treatment-related nausea,” says Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, “The extreme sickness from cancer treatment that has often been portrayed in movies and TV shows is no longer the reality.”