2025 Volume 63 Issue 6 Pages 1026-1035
This article is based on a lecture presented at the 62nd Academic Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening (JSGCS) during JDDW 2024, and introduces the novel initiatives of JSGCS and summarizes my personal views on the challenges of gastrointestinal cancer screening and how to address them. Gastrointestinal cancer screening not only entails clinical medicine (performing screening) and basic medicine aimed at developing novel biomarkers to contribute to cancer screening but also encompasses the field of social medicine, including the establishment of screening systems implemented in local areas and their quality control. This social medicine element is what distinguishes gastrointestinal cancer screening from other areas of gastroenterological medicine, and is considered to be an important perspective as an academic system.
In order to contribute to the promotion and development of research in gastrointestinal cancer screening, which also encompasses social medicine, JSGCS has established a new Cancer Screening Information and Research Promotion Office to provide advice to society members conducting research. I herein summarize the issues associated with colorectal cancer screening, which has not shown a significant downward trend in annual crude mortality rate or age-adjusted mortality rate compared to gastric cancer, despite being the subject of preventive screening, and give my personal views on the countermeasures that JSGCS should take.
