Gastric cancer is getting younger, and early screening is recommended for 4 high-risk groups

Many people's faces change slightly when talking about gastric cancer, but the 5-year survival rate of early gastric cancer is as high as over 90%. Surgery can be used for precise treatment and achieve a cure, so it is crucial to raise awareness of screening and to detect and treat it early.

Peng Junsheng, a famous doctor of Sun Yat-sen University and Lingnan, and the head of the Department of Esophageal and Gastrointestinal Surgery of the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, pointed out that gastroscopy is still the gold standard for gastric cancer screening. For high-risk groups, such as those with a family history of gastric cancer, Helicobacter pylori infection, and patients with precancerous diseases of the stomach such as chronic atrophic gastritis, gastric ulcer, gastric polyps, and residual stomach after surgery, they must undergo regular gastroscopy.

Most gastric cancer patients in my country are difficult to diagnose at an early stage

In my country, patients with early-stage gastric cancer account for only about 10%, and nearly 90% of patients are diagnosed in the advanced or even advanced stages, with a relatively low survival rate. Peng Junsheng introduced that the symptoms of early-stage gastric cancer are not obvious and warning signs are difficult to detect, so standardized screening methods are needed.

"Screen screening for fecal occult blood is a simple method, genetic screening is more suitable for high-risk groups, and the sensitivity of tumor marker detection is not high. Therefore, the gold standard for gastric cancer screening is still gastroscopy, which cannot be easily replaced by other methods." Peng Junsheng said that through gastroscopy, tumor tissue can be observed with the naked eye, and live tissue can be taken for pathological examination. Ultrasound gastroscopy can understand the degree of tumor invasion, such as the depth of invasion of the stomach wall and whether the surrounding lymph nodes are enlarged or metastatic. Currently, painless high-definition electronic gastroscopy, ultrasound, magnification, dye gastroscopy and other screening methods can improve the early diagnosis rate. If in doubt, it is recommended to go to a hospital with conditions for examination.

Gastroscopy is recommended for people over 50 years old

Peng Junsheng introduced that there are obvious regional differences in the incidence of gastric cancer. The incidence rate is relatively high in the northwest and eastern coastal areas of my country. In the eastern Guangdong region, the incidence rate of proximal gastric cancer is higher than in other areas. The incidence rate of distal gastric cancer is high among people who consume smoked, grilled, and pickled foods for a long time. The risk of gastric cancer in smokers is higher than that in non-smokers.

For the general population, people over 50 years old are recommended to have a gastroscopy. If you have stomach discomfort, upper abdominal distension and pain, loss of appetite, weight loss, black stool and other symptoms, you should have a gastroscopy as soon as possible under the guidance of a doctor. If there is no special finding, you can have another check every 2 to 3 years.