Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Mar 15, 2025; 17(3): 100521
Published online Mar 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i3.100521
Gastric cancer diagnosis and prevention: Detecting precancerous at community level
Sergey M Kotelevets, Sergey Z Chukov
Sergey M Kotelevets, Department of Propaedeutics of Internal Medicine, North Caucasus State Academy, Cherkessk 369000, Russia
Sergey Z Chukov, Department of Pathological Anatomy, Stavropol State Medical University, Stavropol 355017, Russia
Author contributions: Kotelevets SM contributed to this paper, designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript, contributed to the design of the manuscript, contributed to the writing by markers and risk factors, and editing the manuscript, illustrations, and review of literature; Chukov SZ contributed to this paper, contributed to the writing introductoin, and editing the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Sergey M Kotelevets and Sergey Z Chucov have nothing to disclose.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sergey M Kotelevets, MD, Professor, Department of Propaedeutics of Internal Medicine, North Caucasus State Academy, Stavropolskaya Street 36, Cherkessk 369000, Russia. smkotelevets@mail.ru
Received: August 18, 2024
Revised: December 18, 2024
Accepted: January 2, 2025
Published online: March 15, 2025
Processing time: 179 Days and 15 Hours
Abstract

The problem of gastric cancer (GC) prevention remains relevant for a long time. Various methods of population serological screening of atrophic gastritis and precancerous changes in the gastric mucosa have been created at present. Modern endoscopic and morphological methods of verification of the diagnosis of precancerous diseases and changes in the gastric mucosa have been introduced into the practice of gastroenterologists and oncologists. GC risk stratification systems allow the formation of risk groups that require population screening. Practical hints for population serological screening of atrophic gastritis, endoscopic and morphological verification of precancerous changes and diseases of the stomach recommend using it: When developing state programs for the prevention of stomach cancer; when implementing preventive measures for stomach cancer by doctors of all specialties; the authors also offer the possibility of use by anyone over the age of 40, provided that they seek methodological help from their doctor; in the work of health schools in any medical and preventive institutions. The use of an assessment system of certain risk factor signatures with prognostic value would add significant assistance to preventive measures against GC.

Keywords: Prevention; Gastric cancer; Strategy; Atrophic gastritis; Serological screening; Precancerous changes

Core Tip: The authors present a consistent system of population-based serological screening for precancerous diseases and changes in the gastric mucosa as a first-line screening strategy. The use of modern endoscopic and morphological diagnostic methods to verify pre-cancerous pathology of the stomach is recommended as a second line of screening for precancerous condition of the stomach. A detailed description of the markers of these pathological changes is given in the manuscript. Recent advances in research to identify the risk factors for stomach cancer have made it possible to use specific science to predict this deadly disease.