Early gastric cancer: clinical case

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common types of malignant neoplasms in Russia and worldwide. In recent decades, GC incidence and mortality have been declining. However, gastric cancer remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, facilitating further improvements of GC diagnostics and treatment. As known, early gastric cancer is a tumor limited to the gastric mucosa or the submucosal layer of the stomach wall. The detection of early-stage GC is the goal of screening programs. The rapid development of endoscopic technologies and the introduction of the ZOOM endoscopy and narrow-band imaging for precise diagnostics have dramatically improved the quality and effectiveness of patient examinations. These advances have underpinned the increased detection of early gastric cancer. Early gastric cancer can be completely cured. Until recently, the gold standard treatment for GC, including its early stages, was radical resection and gastrectomy. This treatment approach is fully justified and ideal from the perspective of oncology. At the same time, it is associated with postoperative complications and deaths, as well as with a substantial decrease in the quality of life in long term GC survivors. Latest endoscopic technologies enable to perform organ-preserving operations in patients with early GC. As a result, it is possible to reduce dramatically the probability of postoperative complications and to improve the quality of life of patients. As of today, the optimization of endoscopic techniques for the treatment of early GC, as well as the search and implementation of new techniques are considered as the most important issues. The article presents a review of key endoscopic methods used for diagnosis and treatment of GC and a clinical case of a patient with early subcardial stomach cancer. KEYWORDS: oncology, gastric cancer, early gastric cancer, dysplastic changes in the stomach mucosa, endoscopy, endoscopic diagnostics, endoscopic resection, OVESCO. FOR CITATION: Malikhova O.A., Ryabova V.E., Lozovaya V.V. et al. Early gastric cancer: clinical case. Russian Medical Inquiry. 2022;6(6):334– 340 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2022-6-6-334-340.