What Causes Pain Between The Rib Cage And Navel Along With Bloating?

Posted on Fri, 18 Aug 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 Answered on

Thu, 7 Sep 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi doctor, i am very worried i have cancer of the stomach or pancreas. Off and on for the past 5 months I have been having a pain in the middle of my abdomen between my rib cage and navel. It feels bloated, full and painful often coming on after eating and lasting a few days. I also have lots of belching. At times my lower back also seems stiff/sore. I also often feel a bloated feeling in my lower abdomen near my uterus. I had a abdominal ultrasound 3 months ago and everything looked normal. I also had a pelvic and transvaginal ultrasound 6 months ago and that was normal as well. Would an ultrasound be able to detect pancreatic cancer? It does not happen everyday. What do you recommend I do? Right now I feel so full/heavy and uncomfortable. I should also mention for many years I have eaten a lot of junk food. I am highly suspicious of stomach or pancreatic cancer.

Answered by Dr. Ramesh Kumar (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Go for a MRI scan.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for choosing HealthcareMagic for your query.
As per query answers are-

Ultra sound is a bassline test of Gastroenterology and its nor always necessary that we get a clear picture of organs like pancreas ever time.
As your stymptoms are there for more then 5 months i would suggest you to go for a more specific test like MRI scan of abdomen to rule out any carcinoma or major ailment.
A MRI splits up the water molecule in a organ so if there are cancerous cell in a particular organ water contents would be more and hence intensity of image formed would be darker.

So i would suggest you to go for a MRI scan asap.

Thanks!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Kampana