OMED E-Newsletter Issue 7, 2009: : Upper GI Cancer Screening Committee Report

OMED Upper GI Cancer Screening Committee Report

A study on Multi-centre Cross-sectional Endoscopic Screening Study for gastric cancer and its precursor lesions in Asia has been started with the view that this will extend to other regions of OMED in future. A prospective cross-sectional endoscopic survey on patients presenting to the gastroenterology or gastrointestinal surgery clinic in participating centres. The objective of this study are:

• To determine geographic variation in the prevalence of early gastric cancer and its precursor lesions among Asian patients
• To determine risk factors of developing pre-malignant gastric lesions in different Asian ethnic groups
• To investigate the association between H. pylori infection and premalignant gastric lesions in various Asian countries
• To compare the accuracy of endoscopic diagnosis of intestinal metaplasia and atrophy among countries with different incidence of gastric cancer

The preliminary results of this study will be available by the end of 2009. When the study is up and running, we will invite other regions to participate.