Doctors detect more and more stomach tumors at an early stage, which increases hope for the treatment of life for one of the most fatal types of cancer.
Stomach cancer, the disease that killed the star of country music Toby Keith in 2024, is typically difficult to catch early and tends to discover in an advanced stage when cancer cells have spread, the researchers reported on Saturday In the week of digestive diseases, an important international conference for doctors and researchers in gastroenterology, liver diseases and endoscopy.
The advances in the tools used to analyze the upper gastrointestinal tract have allowed to obtain a clearer vision of the stomach, which allows doctors to see small tumors that would not have previously been detected, according to the main author of the study, Dr. Mohamed Tausif Siddiqui, a Nutritional Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutritional Scholarship of Cleveland Clinic.
“They used to be detected after metastasis, so there were very poor results,” Siddiqui said in an interview. “The whole paradigm is changing, with more and more local cancers and less metastatic cancers that are detected.”
The newest endoscopes, the thin tubes used to look inside the body, provide views of greater definition of the upper gastrointestinal tract, said Siddiqui. The cameras that are guided to the patient’s stomach have the ability to approach the suspicious areas.
Siddiqui and his colleagues analyzed data from the SEER-22 database of the National Cancer Institute and discovered that early stomach cancer diagnoses constantly increased between 2004 and 2021.
In contrast, the most advanced cases, when cancer had already spread to nearby lymph nodes and/or distant organs, had fallen significantly.
In 2004, early stomach cancer, also called gastric cancer. A rate of 1.94 percent was detected. By 2021, that number had increased to 2.97 percent. This is compared to 2.55 percent for late stage cancers detected in 2004 and 2.35 per 100,000 detected in 2021.
The American Cancer Society predicts that in the United States in 2025, there will be about 26,500 new cases of diagnosed stomach cancer and more than 10,800 deaths.
More cases of stomach cancer are diagnosed in people 50 years or so, a separate study that is presented at the meeting by the researchers of the Cleveland Clinic.
What are the causes and symptoms of stomach cancer?
There are many factors that can increase the risk of a person to develop stomach cancer, including infection with Helicobacter pylori Bacteria, genetic predisposition and a history of smoking, said Siddiqui.
H. pylori infections lead to inflammation in the stomach and it has been shown to cause ulcers.
The first signs of stomach cancer include:
- Acid reflux that cannot be controlled with acid suppressor medications.
- Abdominal and excessive scholarship after eating.
- Stomach cramps.
- Inexplicable abdominal pain.
- Anemia.
- Weight loss, without explanation.
Researchers expect the new findings to lead to guidelines for the detection of stomach cancer, similar to recommendations for colon cancer.
Currently in the USA. People are reviewed by the disease only if they have symptoms or family history of the disease. Many people do not have notable symptoms until cancer has spread.
Dr. Ji Yoon Yoon, gastroenterologist and assistant professor of Medicine at the ICAHN School of Medicine in Mount Sinai in New York, said that new research could be a “turning point” for early detection.
“What is very exciting about these findings is, for the first time, localized stomach cancers are most diagnoses in the United States,” said Yoon, who was not affiliated with the new study.
Japan and South Korea, which have higher stomach cancer rates, have detection programs, said Yoon. “Any of over 50 are projected in Japan, and in South Korea, people from 40 to 74 years obtain a higher endoscopy every two years.”
Gastric cancers at an early stage, when limited to stomach coating, can often be treated with minimally invasive procedures. In more advanced cases, more extensive surgery is generally required to eliminate part of the stomach.
The general five -year survival rate for stomach cancer is around 36%, Yoon said. For people with previous or localized cancer, the five -year survival rate is 77%.
Dr. Michael Gibson, Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Translational Research of Esophagogastric Cancer at the Medical Center of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said it is good that it is increasingly trapped early, especially since “the incidence of gastric cancer is increasing in the young and adult young people.”
The data of the new study show that the diagnosis stage is being reduced in adolescent groups and young adults. While it is not clear why patients in the study were reviewed by gastric cancer, it is possible to scan some of the patients for other reasons and stomach cancer was resumed by the way, he said.
The new findings suggest that more patients can survive stomach cancer because it is being caught early, said Dr. Ryan Moy, a medical oncologist specialized in gastrointestinal cancers at the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York.
“However, we are likely to have a longer follow -up to know if this translates into an improvement in survival results,” Gibson said.
