2025 Volume 63 Issue 5 Pages 602-612
In Japan, the introduction of endoscopic screening has been promoted as a method of population-based gastric cancer screening. However, disparities have emerged between municipalities that have successfully introduced it and those that have not, due to an uneven distribution of medical resources. In Hamamatsu City, where medical resources are relatively abundant, endoscopic screening was introduced in fiscal year 2011. Since then, the Hamamatsu Medical Association has operated the screening program using information and communication technology (ICT). Furthermore, since fiscal year 2017, the screening program has also incorporated risk stratification based on endoscopic findings and examinees' history of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication. Individuals are classified into high-risk and low-risk groups. The high-risk group includes those currently or previously infected with H. pylori or suspected of having type A gastritis, while the low-risk group includes all others. The system is designed to provide more intensive screening for the high-risk group. As this series of systems utilizes ICT, it is possible to operate this screening program in regions other than Hamamatsu City as well, if the environment for use is in place. Therefore, if our system becomes accessible to neighboring municipalities that have not yet introduced endoscopic screening, or to remote areas where facilities for endoscopic examinations exist but it is difficult to manage secondary reading operations, the introduction of endoscopic screening would gradually spread in the future.
