Missed Opportunities for Screening or Surveillance Among Patients with Newly Diagnosed Non-cardia Gastric Adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND

Screening for gastric cancer is not recommended despite rising rates in certain U.S.

POPULATIONS

We determined possible missed opportunities for the detection and surveillance of preneoplastic lesions among gastric cancer patients in a VA hospital.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study included consecutive, newly diagnosed non-cardia gastric adenocarcinoma patients from 11/2007 to 10/2018 at the Houston VA Hospital. We identified missed opportunities for screening based on risk factors (non-White race, smoking, alcohol, Helicobacter pylori infection, gastric ulcers, family history of gastric cancer). We additionally determined missed opportunities for surveillance of known high-risk lesions. Associations between receipt of prior endoscopy for screening or surveillance and cancer-related outcomes (stage, treatment, survival) were determined using logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Among 91 gastric cancer patients, 95.6% were men, 51.6% were black, 12.1% were Hispanic, with mean age of 68.0 years (standard deviation 10.8 years). The most common risk factors included non-white race (68.1%), smoking (76.9%), alcohol use (59.3%) and prior H. pylori (12.1%). Most patients had ≥ 1 risk factor for gastric cancer (92.6%), and 76.9% had ≥ 2 risk factors. Only 25 patients (27.5%) had undergone endoscopy prior to cancer diagnosis. Of 14 with known high-risk lesions (i.e., gastric intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia, ulcer), only 2 (14.3%) underwent surveillance endoscopy. Receipt of prior endoscopy was not associated with differences in cancer outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Most patients with newly diagnosed gastric cancer had ≥ 2 known risk factors for gastric cancer but never received prior screening endoscopy. Among the few with known prior preneoplastic lesions, endoscopic surveillance was not consistently performed.