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Screening scheme targets gastric cancer
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A NEW health program to screen elderly people for gastric cancer got under way in Songjiang District yesterday.
According to official figures, about 400,000 new cases of the disease are reported every year in China, and about 350,000 people — roughly a quarter of the world’s total — die from it.
Health experts have said that the high number of fatalities is due to a low detection rate, as many Chinese are unwilling to be screened.
Dr Li Zhaoshen from Changhai Hospital who is heading the new program, said he hopes the simpler and less invasive diagnostic procedures his team uses will encourage more people to get themselves checked.
“Traditionally, the screening process has required people to have a gastroscopy, which is an uncomfortable procedure that few people want to undergo,” he said.
“In an effort to allay people’s fears, we base our primary screening on a blood sample, and then ask only those patients deemed to be high-risk to have a gastroscopy,” he said.
Li said he advises people to be screened for gastric cancer every year.
“Because there are few symptoms in the early stages of the disease, many sufferers fail to take action until the cancer has taken hold,” he said.
If successful in Songjiang, health authorities plan to roll out the new screening program across the city, he said.
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