Detecting Gastric Malignancy After Gastrectomy

Excerpt

To the editor: Because Annals has been a forum for the critical review of the risks, costs, and benefits of screening techniques (1), we were surprised by the recent editorial advocating the use of routine endoscopy and biopsy as a screening tool for detection of early gastric malignancy in patients 10 to 15 years after partial gastrectomy (2).

An increased prevalence of gastric cancer has been found in certain groups of patients 20 to 25 years after partial gastrectomy (3, 4). However, the survey techniques have included symptomatic patients and have not accounted for the large number of patients who