Gastroscopy, about it China is a country with a high incidence of gastric cancer, more than half of the new gastric cancers in the world are in China, and many people die from gastric cancer every year in China, accounting for about 1/5 of all tumor mortality. according to relevant information, the detection rate of early gastric cancer patients in China is only about 5-10%, and most patients are already in the middle and late stages when they are found. Timely gastroscopy becomes especially important, as it can visualize mucosal changes and detect different diseases such as gastric ulcers, inflammation, tumors, polyps, etc. As gastrointestinal surgeons, it is our duty to urge the public to be aware of medical checkups and be alert to prevent gastric cancer in time.
Why do we need gastroscopy
Diseases are very similar to the weather. It usually does not suddenly rain when it is sunny, but first gradually turns from sunny to cloudy, and only after that it rains. Most patients think that stomach pain or stomach discomfort is a small thing, take some medicine to reduce the symptoms is good, do not pay attention to the symptoms, gastroscopy repeatedly delayed, often due to recurrent attacks until the emergence of complications when they had to perform gastroscopy, often too late, too late to regret.
A more shocking fact is that the postoperative survival rate of early gastric cancer is over 95%, while that of middle gastric cancer is only 20%. The role of early diagnosis and early treatment cannot be overstated.
Gastroscopy can clarify whether there are ulcers, active inflammation, precancerous lesions, tumors and polyps and other lesions, and it can also directly take lesion tissues for cytology and pathology examination to obtain pathological diagnostic evidence. Once again, we urge you to perform gastroscopy in a timely manner according to your specific condition and doctor’s recommendation, and not to wait until your condition deteriorates before considering gastroscopy.
Who should have a gastroscopy
Generally, we recommend people over 40 years old to undergo gastroscopy once every two years. People with symptoms such as upper abdominal discomfort, black stool, loss of appetite and weight loss, or those with a family history of stomach cancer or living in areas with high incidence of stomach cancer should pay more attention to gastroscopy.
Patients with previous history of chronic atrophic gastritis, gastric polyps, and gastric mucosal intestinal disease should also have regular gastroscopy for early follow-up of the disease if there is no change in their condition.
Is gastroscopy painful or not
Many people have psychological burdens or concerns about gastroscopy, in large part because they worry that the procedure will be too painful. But in fact, the examination is not as painful as one might think. Simply put, a gastroscopy is simply the process of reaching into the stomach with the help of a tube and looking at the changes inside the stomach through a mirror-like probe at the bottom. But the process is not rough, there may be a little discomfort, but often the patient has not reacted, the examination has been done, for the gag reflex is particularly sensitive or have a fear of people can choose to anesthesia under the gastroscopy, so a wake up gastroscopy is over.
How to read the gastroscopy report
In hospital outpatient clinics, there are many patients or family members who are confused about the gastroscopy report. In order for patients to have a general understanding of gastroscopy, today we would like to give a brief description of some common test results for reference.
Superficial gastritis.
It reflects a superficial infiltration of lymphocytes or plasma cells in the gastric mucosa, while the deeper gastric glands are normal. Depending on the degree of inflammatory cell infiltration, superficial gastritis can be classified as mild, medium, or with acute activity. Depending on the condition, patients can be cured with the use of different drugs.
Atrophic gastritis.
It is defined as the partial or complete disappearance of gastric glands seen in addition to the presence of inflammatory cell infiltration in the mucosa. Atrophic gastritis must be treated aggressively because there is a higher chance of intestinal chemosis in atrophic gastritis.
Intestinal chemosis.
This is intestinal epithelial metaplasia, meaning the appearance of intestinal epithelium in the gastric mucosal epithelium, and is seen in superficial gastritis or atrophic gastritis, as well as in some normal individuals. Currently, mucus histochemistry, enzyme histochemistry and electron microscopy techniques are used to classify intestinal metaplasia into complete, incomplete and small intestine or colon type. Nowadays, most medical experts believe that incomplete and colon type intestinal chemistry (also called type III intestinal chemistry) is closely related to the occurrence of gastric cancer. Therefore, further examination should be performed after seeing the report of intestinal chemistry.
Individual glandular cystic dilatation.
Based on the pathological pattern, gastric mucosal glandular dilatation is divided into simple dilatation and heterogeneous dilatation. Simple dilatation refers to a lesser degree of glandular dilatation, focal or isolated, with high mucus secretion in the glandular lumen, no atrophy of the gland, and heterogeneous hyperplasia of the glandular epithelium, which may be accompanied by intestinalization. It is now considered that it may be an important precancerous lesion. Therefore, patients with glandular dilatation in the biopsied gastric mucosa, especially those with heterotypic dilatation, should be reviewed regularly.
Gastric mucosal epithelial heterotypic hyperplasia.
Also known as atypical hyperplasia. This finding should be taken very seriously because it can be considered a precancerous lesion. It has been reported that the cancer rate is 2.35% for mild heterogeneous hyperplasia, 4-5% for moderate, and 10-84% for severe. Gastroscopy should be repeated every 3-4 months for mild cases and 2-3 months for moderate cases. Severe cases should be treated with surgery as soon as possible.
How to deal with abnormalities
If you are not clear about the above test results, or if you have doubts, keep your head clear, don’t seek medical help in a hurry, and don’t forget about Baidu, for your peace of mind, for your body and mind, please go to the hospital and consult your doctor in time, so that we can “tailor” a specific treatment plan according to your situation.