In our country, the mortality rate of gastric cancer has already ranked among the top three in the mortality rate of malignant tumors.
There is evidence that the 5-year survival rate of most early gastric cancer can exceed 90% after radical treatment under endoscope. However, the 5-year survival rate of advanced gastric cancer is still less than 30% even after comprehensive treatment mainly based on surgery.
The detection and treatment of early cancer can greatly reduce the mortality rate, but in China, the detected early gastric cancer accounts for less than 10% of the total gastric cancer, while in Japan, the detection rate is as high as 50% due to the implementation of the national gastric cancer screening program.
It can be seen how little attention everyone pays to the early detection of gastric cancer. We must knock on the blackboard to draw the key points here. We must improve our understanding of early cancer, actively prevent the occurrence of gastric cancer, and strive for the early detection and treatment of gastric cancer.
Who are the high-risk groups for gastric cancer?
The occurrence of gastric cancer is caused by a variety of complex factors, and the population with these risk factors belongs to the high-risk group of gastric cancer.
1. Unhealthy eating habits
Unhealthy living and eating habits are the most common factors of gastric cancer, and they are also factors that we can control in our daily life.
The following situations are common:
- High Salt Diet: A large study in Japan found that eating more than 10g of salt a day will significantly increase the incidence of gastric cancer. Often eat smoked barbecue food and leftovers; Irregular eating: not eating breakfast, overeating, etc.; Smoking, drinking, etc.
2. Helicobacter pylori infection
In addition to the above incorrect living and eating habits, which will increase the risk of gastric cancer, Helicobacter pylori infection cannot be ignored.
Both the International Agency for Cancer Research and the World Health Organization have classified Helicobacter pylori as one type of carcinogenic factor.
At the same time, there is also evidence that eradication of Helicobacter pylori can reduce the incidence of gastric cancer.
Infected with Helicobacter pylori sometimes has no symptoms, but if the following symptoms occur, you may as well go to the hospital for examination:
- Acid regurgitation, heartburn, epigastric pain and halitosis; Fullness, discomfort or pain in the upper abdomen after eating; Often accompanied by belching and abdominal distension; Loss of appetite and other symptoms.
Is Helicobacter pylori and gastric cancer inevitable?
Although Helicobacter pylori is closely related to the occurrence of gastric cancer, it is impossible to throw all the pots of gastric cancer to Helicobacter pylori.
There are 2 billion people infected with Helicobacter pylori in the world, but less than 1% of Helicobacter pylori infected people eventually develop gastric cancer, which fully shows that the occurrence of gastric cancer is caused by Helicobacter pylori infection, environment, individual differences and other factors.
Therefore, infection with Helicobacter pylori does not necessarily lead to gastric cancer.
What tests should be done for early cancer screening?
Barium meal used to be a large-scale screening method for gastric cancer, but with the rapid development of endoscopic technology, digestive endoscopy has now become the most commonly used examination.
Most people’s understanding of gastroscopy comes from the description of people around them:
Gastroscopy is very, very uncomfortable, you think, a tube is stuffed into your mouth, and after that, it is still stirring in your stomach. It is better to die than to live!
But in fact, this is not the case. Most people can tolerate ordinary gastroscopes, but there will be some nausea and other discomfort during the whole examination process. And now most hospitals can already have painless gastroscopes, the whole process is just like sleeping, without any discomfort.
If you don’t check because you are afraid, the result may be that you have lost watermelons and picked up sesame seeds. The loss outweights the gain. Early detection is the most important thing.
Do what people need such screening?
Relevant experts in our country suggest that people over 40 years old should be screened for gastric cancer if they have the following conditions, including:
- Population in areas with high incidence of gastric cancer: According to the annual report of China’s tumor registration, the northwest region and the southeast coast are relatively concentrated, such as Shanghai, Gansu, Jiangsu, Qinghai, Shandong, Liaoning and other areas that like to eat high salt and pickled food, especially the food that is not pickled thoroughly, which contains high carcinogen nitrite; Helicobacter pylori infection; Have suffered from atrophic gastritis, gastric ulcer, gastric polyp, postoperative residual stomach, hypertrophic gastritis and pernicious anemia; Precancerous lesions of gastric cancer; First-degree relatives of gastric cancer patients (for example, parents are gastric cancer patients); There are other high-risk factors for gastric cancer (high-salt diet, pickled barbecue diet, smoking and drinking, etc.).
In most cases, it is often too late to go for examination when there are alarm symptoms such as emaciation, gastrointestinal hemorrhage and upper abdominal discomfort. Our slogan is: Early detection! Early treatment!
How often is it better to screen?
The guidelines recommend that different groups should undergo gastroscopic screening every year to every three years, as follows:
- Patients without Helicobacter pylori infection and accompanied by atrophic gastritis are recommended once a year. Patients with Helicobacter pylori accompanied by atrophic gastritis once every 2 years; Patients with positive Helicobacter pylori and no atrophic gastritis are recommended to have gastroscopy extended to every 3 years.
How to effectively prevent?
I believe everyone has heard of the saying of “preventive treatment”, and the same is true for gastric cancer. Any method to treat gastric cancer is not as important as preventing gastric cancer. In our life, we can prevent the occurrence of canceration through the following ways.
1. Remove high risk factors of gastric cancer
According to the relevant risk factors of gastric cancer, we can know the corresponding preventive measures, such as:
- Reduce salt intake; Refusal to smoke or drink; Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy without contraindications; Develop good eating habits, etc.
2. Increase the intake of dietary fiber such as fruits and vegetables
Some studies have confirmed that eating more fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of gastric cancer by 44%, and eating onion and garlic vegetables can also reduce the occurrence of gastric cancer. Therefore, eating more these foods is also a good preventive measure.