A Novel Retractable Robotic Device for Colorectal Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection.

Background/Aims: : Appropriate tissue tension and clear visibility of the dissection area using traction are essential for effective and safe endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). In this study, we developed a retractable robot-assisted traction device and evaluated its performance in colorectal ESD. Methods: : An experienced endoscopist performed ESD 18 times on an ex vivo porcine colon using the robot and 18 times using the conventional method. The outcome measures were procedure time, dissection speed, procedure-related adverse events, and blind dissection rate. Results: : Thirty-six colonic lesions were resected from ex vivo porcine colon samples. The total procedure time was significantly shorter in robot-assisted ESD (RESD) than in conventional ESD (CESD) (20.1±4.1 minutes vs 34.3±8.3 minutes, p<0.05). The submucosal dissection speed was significantly faster in the RESD group than in the CESD group (36.8±9.2 mm2/min vs 18.1±4.7 mm2/min, p<0.05). The blind dissection rate was also significantly lower in the RESD group (12.8%±3.4% vs 35.1%±3.9%, p<0.05). In an in vivo porcine feasibility study, the robotic device was attached to a colonoscope and successfully inserted into the proximal colon without damaging the colonic wall, and ESD was successfully performed. Conclusions: : The dissection speed and safety profile improved significantly with the retractable RESD. Thus, our robotic device has the potential to provide simple, effective, and safe multidirectional traction during colonic ESD.

Robot-assisted gastric endoscopic submucosal dissection significantly improves procedure time at challenging dissection locations.

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is the standard treatment for early malignant stomach lesions. However, this procedure is technically demanding and carries a high complication risk. The level of difficulty in performing ESD is influenced by the location of the lesion. In our study, we aimed to investigate and analyze the effectiveness of robot-assisted ESD for lesions situated in challenging locations within the stomach. METHODS: We developed a gastric simulator that could be used to implement various gastric ESD locations. An EndoGel (Sunarrow, Tokyo, Japan) was attached to the simulator for the dissection procedures. Robot-assisted or conventional ESD was performed at challenging or easy locations by two ESD-trainee endoscopists. RESULTS: The procedure time was remarkably shorter for robotic ESD than conventional dissection at challenging locations (6.2 vs. 10.2 min, P < 0.05), mainly due to faster dissection (220.3 vs. 101.9 mm2/min, P < 0.05). The blind dissection rate was significantly lower with robotic ESD than with the conventional method (17.6 vs. 35.2%, P < 0.05) at challenging locations. CONCLUSION: The procedure time was significantly shortened when robot-assisted gastric ESD procedures were performed at challenging locations. Therefore, our robotic device provides simple, effective, and safe multidirectional traction for endoscopic submucosal dissection at challenging locations, thereby reducing difficulty of the procedure.

International Digestive Endoscopy Network consensus on the management of antithrombotic agents in patients undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Antithrombotic agents, including antiplatelet agents and anticoagulants, are widely used in Korea because of the increasing incidence of cardiocerebrovascular disease and the aging population. The management of patients using antithrombotic agents during endoscopic procedures is an important clinical challenge. The clinical practice guidelines for this issue, developed by the Korean Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, were published in 2020. However, new evidence on the use of dual antiplatelet therapy and direct anticoagulant management has emerged, and revised guidelines have been issued in the United States and Europe. Accordingly, the previous guidelines were revised. Cardiologists were part of the group that developed the guideline, and the recommendations went through a consensus-reaching process among international experts. This guideline presents 14 recommendations made based on the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation methodology and was reviewed by multidisciplinary experts. These guidelines provide useful information that can assist endoscopists in the management of patients receiving antithrombotic agents who require diagnostic and elective therapeutic endoscopy. It will be revised as necessary to cover changes in technology, evidence, or other aspects of clinical practice.

Safety, Efficacy and Clinical Utility of the 5.1mm EndoRotor Powered Debridement Catheter for Treatment of Walled-Off Pancreatic Necrosis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Direct endoscopic necrosectomy (DEN) is a recommended strategy for treatment of walled-off-necrosis (WON). DEN uses a variety of devices including the EndoRotor (Interscope, Inc.) debridement catheter. Recently, a 5.1 mm EndoRotor with increased chamber size and rate of tissue removal was introduced. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of this device. METHODS: A multi-center cohort study was conducted at eight institutions including patients who underwent DEN with the 5.1 mm EndoRotor. The primary outcome was the number of DEN sessions needed for WON resolution. Secondary outcomes included the average percent reduction in solid WON debris and decrease in WON area per session, total time spent performing EndoRotor therapy for WON resolution, and adverse events. RESULTS: 64 procedures in 41 patients were included. For patients in which the 5.1 mm EndoRotor catheter was the sole therapeutic modality, an average of 1.6 DEN sessions resulted in WON resolution with an average cumulative time of 85.5 minutes. Of the 21 procedures with data regarding percent of solid debris, the average reduction was 85% +/- 23% per session. Of the 19 procedures with data regarding WON area, the mean area significantly decreased from 97.6 +/- 72.0 cm2 to 27.1 +/- 35.5 cm2 (p<0.001) per session. Adverse events included two intra-procedural LAMS dislodgements managed endoscopically and three perforations none of which were related to EndoRotor. Bleeding was reported in seven cases, none required embolic or surgical therapy and two required blood transfusions. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first multi-center retrospective study to investigate the efficacy and safety of the 5.1 mm EndoRotor catheter for WON. Results from this study showed an average of 1.6 DEN sessions were needed to achieve WON resolution with an 85% single session reduction in solid debris and a 70% single session decrease in WON area with minimal adverse events.

Risk of Gastric Adenocarcinoma in a Multiethnic Population Undergoing Routine Care: An Electronic Health Records Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) is often diagnosed at advanced stages and portends a poor prognosis. We hypothesized that electronic health records (EHR) could be leveraged to identify individuals at highest risk for GAC from the population seeking routine care. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study, with endpoint of GAC incidence as ascertained through linkage to an institutional tumor registry. We utilized 2010 to 2020 data from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, a large multispecialty practice serving Northern California. The analytic cohort comprised individuals ages 40-75 receiving regular ambulatory care. Variables collected included demographic, medical, pharmaceutical, social, and familial data. Electronic phenotyping was based on rule-based methods. RESULTS: The cohort comprised 316,044 individuals and approximately 2 million person-years (p-y) of observation. 157 incident GACs occurred (incidence 7.9 per 100,000 p-y), of which 102 were non-cardia GACs (incidence 5.1 per 100,000 p-y). In multivariable analysis, male sex [HR: 2.2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.6-3.1], older age, Asian race (HR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.7-3.7), Hispanic ethnicity (HR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1-3.3), atrophic gastritis (HR: 4.6, 95% CI: 2.2-9.3), and anemia (HR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.3-2.6) were associated with GAC risk; use of NSAID was inversely associated (HR: 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2-0.5). Older age, Asian race, Hispanic ethnicity, atrophic gastritis, and anemia were associated with non-cardia GAC. CONCLUSIONS: Routine EHR data can stratify the general population for GAC risk. IMPACT: Such methods may help triage populations for targeted screening efforts, such as upper endoscopy.

Peroral endoscopic myotomy for spastic esophageal dysmotility among opioid users: a multicenter propensity score matching study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Opioid-induced esophageal dysfunction (OIED) often presents as spastic esophageal disorders (SEDs) and esophagogastric junction outflow obstruction (EGJOO). The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare clinical outcomes of peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) for SEDs and EGJOO among opioid users and nonusers. METHODS: This propensity score (PS) matching study included consecutive opioid users and nonusers who underwent POEM for SEDs and EGJOO between January 2018 and September 2022. The following covariates were used for the PS calculation: age, sex, duration of symptoms, Eckardt score, type of motility disorder, and length of myotomy during POEM. Clinical response was defined as a post-POEM Eckardt score ≤3. RESULTS: A total of 277 consecutive patients underwent POEM during the study period. PS matching resulted in the selection of 64 pairs of patients strictly matched 1:1 (n = 128) with no statistically significant differences in demographic, baseline, or procedural characteristics or in the parameters considered for the PS between the 2 groups. Clinical response to POEM was significantly lower among opioid users (51 of 64 [79.7%]) versus nonusers (60 of 64 [93.8%]) (P = .03) at a median follow-up of 18 months. Among opioid users, higher opioid dose (>60 morphine milligram equivalents per day) was associated with a higher likelihood of failure to respond to POEM (odds ratio, 4.59; 95% confidence interval, 1.31-3.98; P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical response to POEM for SEDs and EGJOO is significantly lower among opioid users versus nonusers. There was a dose-relationship between opioids and response to POEM, with higher daily opioid usage associated with a higher likelihood of treatment failure.

Low delayed bleeding and high complete closure rate of mucosal defects with the novel through-the-scope dual-action tissue clip after endoscopic resection of large nonpedunculated colorectal lesions (with video).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Complete closure after endoscopic resection of large nonpedunculated colorectal lesions (LNPCLs) can reduce delayed bleeding but is challenging with conventional through-the-scope (TTS) clips alone. The novel dual-action tissue (DAT) clip has clip arms that open and close independently of each other, facilitating tissue approximation. We aimed to evaluate the rate of complete closure and delayed bleeding with the DAT clip after endoscopic resection of LNPCLs. METHODS: This was a multicenter prospective cohort study of all patients who underwent defect closure with the DAT clip after EMR or endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) of LNPCLs ≥20 mm from July 2022 to May 2023. Delayed bleeding was defined as a bleeding event requiring hospitalization, blood transfusion, or any intervention within 30 days after the procedure. Complete closure was defined as apposition of mucosal defect margins without visible submucosal areas <3 mm along the closure line. RESULTS: One hundred seven patients (median age, 64 years; 42.5% women) underwent EMR (n = 63) or ESD (n = 44) of LNPCLs (median size, 40 mm; 74.8% right-sided colon) followed by defect closure. Complete closure was achieved in 96.3% (n = 103) with a mean of 1.4 ± .6 DAT clips and 2.9 ± 1.8 TTS clips. Delayed bleeding occurred in 1 patient (.9%) without requiring additional interventions. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the DAT clip in conjunction with TTS clips achieved high complete defect closure after endoscopic resection of large LNPCLs and was associated with a .9% delayed bleeding rate. Future comparative trials and formal cost-analyses are needed to validate these findings. (Clinical trial registration number: NCT05852457.).

A spatially mapped gene expression signature for intestinal stem-like cells identifies high-risk precursors of gastric cancer.

Objective: Gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM) is a precancerous lesion that increases gastric cancer (GC) risk. The Operative Link on GIM (OLGIM) is a combined clinical-histopathologic system to risk-stratify patients with GIM. The identification of molecular biomarkers that are indicators for advanced OLGIM lesions may improve cancer prevention efforts. Methods: This study was based on clinical and genomic data from four cohorts: 1) GAPS, a GIM cohort with detailed OLGIM severity scoring (N=303 samples); 2) the Cancer Genome Atlas (N=198); 3) a collation of in-house and publicly available scRNA-seq data (N=40), and 4) a spatial validation cohort (N=5) consisting of annotated histology slides of patients with either GC or advanced GIM. We used a multi-omics pipeline to identify, validate and sequentially parse a highly-refined signature of 26 genes which characterize high-risk GIM. Results: Using standard RNA-seq, we analyzed two separate, non-overlapping discovery (N=88) and validation (N=215) sets of GIM. In the discovery phase, we identified 105 upregulated genes specific for high-risk GIM (defined as OLGIM III-IV), of which 100 genes were independently confirmed in the validation set. Spatial transcriptomic profiling revealed 36 of these 100 genes to be expressed in metaplastic foci in GIM. Comparison with bulk GC sequencing data revealed 26 of these genes to be expressed in intestinal-type GC. Single-cell profiling resolved the 26-gene signature to both mature intestinal lineages (goblet cells, enterocytes) and immature intestinal lineages (stem-like cells). A subset of these genes was further validated using single-molecule multiplex fluorescence in situ hybridization. We found certain genes (TFF3 and ANPEP) to mark differentiated intestinal lineages, whereas others (OLFM4 and CPS1) localized to immature cells in the isthmic/crypt region of metaplastic glands, consistent with the findings from scRNAseq analysis. Conclusions: using an integrated multi-omics approach, we identified a novel 26-gene expression signature for high-OLGIM precursors at increased risk for GC. We found this signature localizes to aberrant intestinal stem-like cells within the metaplastic microenvironment. These findings hold important translational significance for future prevention and early detection efforts.

Multicenter evaluation of recurrence in endoscopic submucosal dissection and endoscopic mucosal resection in the colon: A Western perspective.

BACKGROUND: While colon endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) is an effective technique, removal of larger polyps often requires piecemeal resection, which can increase recurrence rates. Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) in the colon offers the ability for en bloc resection and is well-described in Asia, but there are limited studies comparing ESD vs EMR in the West. AIM: To evaluate different techniques in endoscopic resection of large polyps in the colon and to identify factors for recurrence. METHODS: The study is a retrospective comparison of ESD, EMR and knife-assisted endoscopic resection performed at Stanford University Medical Center and Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System between 2016 and 2020. Knife-assisted endoscopic resection was defined as use of electrosurgical knife to facilitate snare resection, such as for circumferential incision. Patients ≥ 18 years of age undergoing colonoscopy with removal of polyp(s) ≥ 20 mm were included. The primary outcome was recurrence on follow-up. RESULTS: A total of 376 patients and 428 polyps were included. Mean polyp size was greatest in the ESD group (35.8 mm), followed by knife-assisted endoscopic resection (33.3 mm) and EMR (30.5 mm) (P < 0.001). ESD achieved highest en bloc resection (90.4%) followed by knife-assisted endoscopic resection (31.1%) and EMR (20.2%) (P < 0.001). A total of 287 polyps had follow-up (67.1%). On follow-up analysis, recurrence rate was lowest in knife-assisted endoscopic resection (0.0%) and ESD (1.3%) and highest in EMR (12.9%) (P = 0.0017). En bloc polyp resection had significantly lower rate of recurrence (1.9%) compared to non-en bloc (12.0%, P = 0.003). On multivariate analysis, ESD (in comparison to EMR) adjusted for polyp size was found to significantly reduce risk of recurrence [adjusted hazard ratio 0.06 (95%CI: 0.01-0.57, P = 0.014)]. CONCLUSION: In our study, EMR had significantly higher recurrence compared to ESD and knife-assisted endoscopic resection. We found factors including resection by ESD, en bloc removal, and use of circumferential incision were associated with significantly decreased recurrence. While further studies are needed, we have demonstrated the efficacy of ESD in a Western population.

Controlling Gastric Cancer in a World of Heterogeneous Risk.

Gastric cancer (GC) is a leading cause of global mortality but also a cancer whose footprint is highly unequal. This review aims to define global disease epidemiology, critically appraise strategies of prevention and disease attenuation, and assess how these strategies could be applied to improve outcomes from GC in a world of variable risk and disease burden. Strategies of primary prevention focus on improving the detection and eradication of the main environmental risk factor, Helicobacter pylori. In certain countries of high incidence, endoscopic or radiographic screening of the asymptomatic general population has been adopted as a means of secondary prevention. By contrast, identification and targeted surveillance of individuals with precancerous lesions (such as intestinal metaplasia) is being increasingly embraced in nations of low incidence. This review also highlights existing knowledge gaps in GC prevention as well as the role of emerging technologies for early detection and risk stratification.

Development of a Preliminary Question Prompt List as a Communication Tool for Adults With Achalasia: A Modified Delphi Study.

BACKGROUND: Question prompt lists (QPLs) are structured sets of disease-specific questions that enhance patient-physician communication by encouraging patients to ask questions during consultations. AIM: The aim of this study was to develop a preliminary achalasia-specific QPL created by esophageal experts. METHODS: The QPL content was derived through a modified Delphi method consisting of 2 rounds. In round 1, experts provided 5 answers to the prompts "What general questions should patients ask when given a new diagnosis of achalasia" and "What questions do I not hear patients asking, but given my expertise, I believe they should be asking?" In round 2, experts rated questions on a 5-point Likert scale. Questions considered "essential" or "important" were accepted into the QPL. Feedback regarding the QPL was obtained in a pilot study wherein patients received the QPL before their consultation and completed surveys afterwards. RESULTS: Nineteen esophageal experts participated in both rounds. Of 148 questions from round 1, 124 (83.8%) were accepted into the QPL. These were further reduced to 56 questions to minimize redundancy. Questions were categorized into 6 themes: "What is achalasia," "Risks with achalasia," "Symptom management in achalasia," "Treatment of achalasia," "Risk of reflux after treatment," and "Follow-up after treatment." Nineteen patients participated in the pilot, most of whom agreed that the QPL was helpful (84.2%) and recommended its wider use (84.2%). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first QPL developed specifically for adults with achalasia. Although well-received in a small pilot, follow-up studies will incorporate additional patient feedback to further refine the QPL content and assess its usability, acceptability, and feasibility.

Understanding the Principles of Electrosurgery for Endoscopic Surgery and Third Space Endoscopy.

Electrosurgery is the application of high-frequency electrical alternating current to biologic tissue to cut, coagulate, desiccate, and/or fulgurate. Electrosurgery is commonly used in gastrointestinal endoscopy, with applications including biliary sphincterotomy, polypectomy, hemostasis, the ablation of lesions, and endoscopic surgery. Understanding electrosurgical principles is important in endoscopic surgery to achieve the desired therapeutic effect, optimize procedural outcomes, and minimize risks or adverse events. This article describes fundamental principles that apply to electrosurgical units, operator technique, and practical considerations for achieving desired tissue effects in endoscopic surgery; and provides practical guidance and safety considerations when using electrosurgical units in endoscopic surgery.

Management of Helicobacter pylori Infection: A Comparison between Korea and the United States.

Helicobacter pylori has been well known to cause gastritis, peptic ulcers, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue, and gastric cancer. The importance of H. pylori eradication has been emphasized; however, the management of H. pylori infection is difficult in clinical practice. In both Eastern and Western countries, there has been a constant interest in confirming individuals who should be tested and treated for H. pylori infection and developing methods to diagnose H. pylori infection. Many studies have been implemented to successfully eradicate H. pylori, and various combinations of eradication regimens for H. pylori infection have been suggested worldwide. Based on the findings of previous studies, a few countries have published their own guidelines that are appropriate for their country; however, these country-specific guidelines may differ depending on the circumstances in each country. Evidence-based guidelines and clinical practice updates for the treatment of H. pylori infection have been published in Korea and the United States in 2021. This review will summarize the similarities and differences in the management of H. pylori infection in Korea and the United States, focusing on indications, diagnosis, and treatments based on recent guidelines and recommendations in both countries.

Role of gastric per-oral endoscopic myotomy (G-POEM) in post-lung transplant patients: a multicenter experience.

Background and study aims Gastroparesis post-lung transplant (LTx) can lead to increased risk of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and accelerated graft dysfunction. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of gastric per-oral endoscopic myotomy (G-POEM), a promising tool in patients with refractory gastroparesis, for managing refractory gastroparesis and GER in post-LTx patients. Patents and methods This was a multicenter retrospective study on post-LTx patients who underwent G-POEM for management of gastroparesis and GER that were refractory to standard medical therapy. The primary outcome was clinical success post-G-POEM. Secondary outcomes included the rate of post-G-POEM objective esophageal pH exam normalization, rate of gastric emptying scintigraphy (GES) normalization, technical success, and adverse events. Results A total of 20 patients (mean age 54.7 ±â€Š14.1 years, Female 50 %) underwent G-POEM at a median time of 13 months (interquartile range 6.5-13.5) post-LTx. All G-POEM procedures were technically successful. Clinical success was achieved in 17 (85 %) patients during a median follow-up time of 8.9 (IQR: 3-17) months post-G-POEM. Overall GCSI and two of its subscales (bloating and postprandial fullness/early satiety) improved significantly following G-POEM. Two patients (10 %) developed post-procedural AEs (delayed bleeding 1, pyloric stenosis 1, both moderate in severity). Post-G-POEM GES improvement was achieved in 12 of 16 patients (75 %). All 20 patients were on proton pump inhibitors pre-G-POEM, as opposed to five post-G-POEM. Post-G-POEM PH study normalization was noted in nine of 10 patients (90 %) who underwent both pre- and post-G-poem pH testing. Conclusions G-POEM is a promising noninvasive therapeutic tool for management of refractory gastroparesis and GER post-LTx.

A Comparison of Logistic Regression Against Machine Learning Algorithms for Gastric Cancer Risk Prediction Within Real-World Clinical Data Streams.

PURPOSE: Noncardia gastric cancer (NCGC) is a leading cause of global cancer mortality, and is often diagnosed at advanced stages. Development of NCGC risk models within electronic health records (EHR) may allow for improved cancer prevention. There has been much recent interest in use of machine learning (ML) for cancer prediction, but few studies comparing ML with classical statistical models for NCGC risk prediction. METHODS: We trained models using logistic regression (LR) and four commonly used ML algorithms to predict NCGC from age-/sex-matched controls in two EHR systems: Stanford University and the University of Washington (UW). The LR model contained well-established NCGC risk factors (intestinal metaplasia histology, prior Helicobacter pylori infection, race, ethnicity, nativity status, smoking history, anemia), whereas ML models agnostically selected variables from the EHR. Models were developed and internally validated in the Stanford data, and externally validated in the UW data. Hyperparameter tuning of models was achieved using cross-validation. Model performance was compared by accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. RESULTS: In internal validation, LR performed with comparable accuracy (0.732; 95% CI, 0.698 to 0.764), sensitivity (0.697; 95% CI, 0.647 to 0.744), and specificity (0.767; 95% CI, 0.720 to 0.809) to penalized lasso, support vector machine, K-nearest neighbor, and random forest models. In external validation, LR continued to demonstrate high accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Although K-nearest neighbor demonstrated higher accuracy and specificity, this was offset by significantly lower sensitivity. No ML model consistently outperformed LR across evaluation criteria. CONCLUSION: Drawing data from two independent EHRs, we find LR on the basis of established risk factors demonstrated comparable performance to optimized ML algorithms. This study demonstrates that classical models built on robust, hand-chosen predictor variables may not be inferior to data-driven models for NCGC risk prediction.

The Gastric Cancer Registry: A Genomic Translational Resource for Multidisciplinary Research in Gastric Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer is a leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality. Developing information systems which integrate clinical and genomic data may accelerate discoveries to improve cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. To support translational research in gastric cancer, we developed the Gastric Cancer Registry (GCR), a North American repository of clinical and cancer genomics data. METHODS: Participants self-enrolled online. Entry criteria into the GCR included the following: (i) diagnosis of gastric cancer, (ii) history of gastric cancer in a first- or second-degree relative, or (iii) known germline mutation in the gene CDH1. Participants provided demographic and clinical information through a detailed survey. Some participants provided specimens of saliva and tumor samples. Tumor samples underwent exome sequencing, whole-genome sequencing, and transcriptome sequencing. RESULTS: From 2011 to 2021, 567 individuals registered and returned the clinical questionnaire. For this cohort 65% had a personal history of gastric cancer, 36% reported a family history of gastric cancer, and 14% had a germline CDH1 mutation. 89 patients with gastric cancer provided tumor samples. For the initial study, 41 tumors were sequenced using next-generation sequencing. The data was analyzed for cancer mutations, copy-number variations, gene expression, microbiome, neoantigens, immune infiltrates, and other features. We developed a searchable, web-based interface (the GCR Genome Explorer) to enable researchers' access to these datasets. CONCLUSIONS: The GCR is a unique, North American gastric cancer registry which integrates clinical and genomic annotation. IMPACT: Available for researchers through an open access, web-based explorer, the GCR Genome Explorer will accelerate collaborative gastric cancer research across the United States and world.

Traction wire endoscopic submucosal dissection: tips and techniques from 4 institutions.

Video 1Video presentation of traction wire endoscopic submucosal dissection: tips and techniques from 4 institutions.

Pepsinogens and Gastrin Demonstrate Low Discrimination for Gastric Precancerous Lesions in a Multi-Ethnic United States Cohort.

Early identification of gastric precancerous lesions, including atrophic gastritis (AG) and intestinal metaplasia (IM), may improve gastric cancer detection and prevention. Because AG and IM are generally asymptomatic, many of the estimated 15 million Americans who carry these lesions remain undiagnosed.1 AG and IM are associated with either active or prior Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection. Hp infection leads to perturbations in the serum concentration of gastric hormones pepsinogen I (PGI), pepsinogen II, the pepsinogen I/II ratio (PGR), gastrin-17 (G-17), and Hp IgG.2,3 In East Asia and other regions with high burden of Hp infection and gastric cancer, these biomarkers have been used as screening tools for AG and IM.4 However, there exists limited data on the sensitivity and discrimination of these serologic markers in low-Hp-prevalence populations, such as the United States.

An Approach to the Primary and Secondary Prevention of Gastric Cancer in the United States.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Gastric cancer (GC) remains a leading cause of mortality among certain racial, ethnic, and immigrant groups in the United States (US). The majority of GCs are diagnosed at advanced stages, and overall survival remains poor. There exist no structured national strategies for GC prevention in the US. METHODS: On March 5-6, 2020 a summit of researchers, policy makers, public funders, and advocacy leaders was convened at Stanford University to address this critical healthcare disparity. After this summit, a writing group was formed to critically evaluate the effectiveness, potential benefits, and potential harms of methods of primary and secondary prevention through structured literature review. This article represents a consensus statement prepared by the writing group. RESULTS: The burden of GC is highly inequitably distributed in the US and disproportionately falls on Asian, African American, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaskan Native populations. In randomized controlled trials, strategies of Helicobacter pylori testing and treatment have been demonstrated to reduce GC-specific mortality. In well-conducted observational and ecologic studies, strategies of endoscopic screening have been associated with reduced GC-specific mortality. Notably however, all randomized controlled trial data (for primary prevention) and the majority of observational data (for secondary prevention) are derived from non-US sources. CONCLUSIONS: There exist substantial, high-quality data supporting GC prevention derived from international studies. There is an urgent need for cancer prevention trials focused on high-risk immigrant and minority populations in the US. The authors offer recommendations on how strategies of primary and secondary prevention can be applied to the heterogeneous US population.