A project led by a group of researchers of ICO-IDIBELL has identified new factors that warn of an increased risk of developing gastric cancer. People with an infection caused by a specific variant of Helicobacter pylori and those with a particular preneoplastic gastric lesion (precarcinogen) have a much higher risk of developing the disease than the rest. This tumour has no effective treatment and is often diagnosed late, which confers a poor prognosis: survival does not reach 25% at 5 years. It is therefore particularly important to promote early detection.

These results should make it possible to detect and treat the disease in its early stages with the development of a level of risk and a stricter follow-up of the people with a higher probability of developing cancer. "Studies like this make it possible to develop a risk scale and figure out what people are more likely to develop cancer and therefore should undergo a more comprehensive control," says Gonzalez Svatetz.

The findings are the result of a prospective study in a high-risk population of Spain, which has had the participation of pathologists and gastroenterologists coordinated by the Unit of Nutrition, Environment and Cancer of ICO-IDIBELL. The conclusions have been published in two articles in the International Journal of Cancer and the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Gastric tumors are the the second cause of death from cancer worldwide with more than one million deaths every year. In Spain, it is the fifth most common cancer - 8,200 new cases each year - and the fourth that causes more deaths.