Application of a new scoring system to gastric cancer screening in hospital visits

Objective To explore the clinical value of a new scoring system for gastric cancer screening in hospital visits. Methods A new scoring system for gastric cancer screening was used to retrospectively analyze data of patients who visited Wenzhou Central Hospital for various digestive symptoms from April 2017 to August 2018 and met the screening requirements. All patients were divided into three groups according to the grading results of the new scoring system: low-risk group (0-11 points), medium-risk group (12-16 points) and high-risk group (17-23 points). A comparative analysis was performed on the detection of gastric cancer and gastric precancerous conditions among the three groups. Results A total of 2 674 patients were included in this study, 1 694(63.35%) in the low-risk group, 833(31.15%) in the medium-risk group, and 147(5.50%) in the high-risk group. The total detection rate of gastric cancer was 2.73% (73/2 674). The detection rates were 1.06% (18/1 694), 4.32% (36/833) and 12.93%(19/147) in the three groups, respectively. There were significant differences in the detection rate of gastric cancer between any two of the three groups (all P<0.05). The detection rates of early gastric cancer in medium-risk group[2.04%(17/833)] and high-risk group[4.08%(6/147)] were significantly higher than that in the low-risk group[0.35%(6/1 694), all P<0.05]. Conclusion The new gastric cancer screening scoring system can not only significantly improve the detection rate of gastric cancer in hospital visits, but also improve the diagnostic rate of early gastric cancer. Key words: Stomach neoplasm; Precancerous conditions; New scoring system for gastric cancer screening; Early gastric cancer