In order to validate the efficacy of a gastric mass survey in Fukuoka district, we retrospectively recruited 121 consecutive gastric cancer patients detected in a gastric mass survey, and another 744 consecutive cases detected at Ohiwa Surgery Clinic (OSC) between 1965 and 2012, all of whom were surgically resected and pathologically proven. We compared the clinicopathological factors between the two groups, including macroscopic morphology, histological subtypes, lesion location within the stomach, and prognosis.
Of these 865 cases in total, early gastric cancers accounted for 64% (78/121), and 53% (394/744) in the mass survey and OSC groups, respectively. As for macroscopic morphology of early gastric cancer, protruded type was more frequently found in the mass survey group than in the OSC group. Sixteen out of 78 early gastric cancers in the mass survey group were incidentally found during the scrutiny, apart from the abnormality suggested in the mass survey. In other words, 79% (62/78) of early gastric cancers were correctly suggested in the mass survey. Depressed type morphology without fold convergence, and upper and lower locations were the factors related to misdiagnosis in the mass survey.
Histologically, there was a tendency that early cancers were of differentiated subtype, whereas advanced cancers were of undifferentiated subtype, showing no significant difference between the groups.
The 5-year survival rate of the mass survey group was 83.8%, which is better than that of the OSC group (71.6%).
In conclusion, we consider that the gastric mass survey in Fukuoka district is useful in terms of early cancer detection.
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