World Digestive Health Day: Prevention and early diagnosis of stomach, gallbladder and colon cancers

Dr. Gustavo Bresky, vice president of the Chilean Society of Gastroenterology (SChGE), commented that specialists are concerned about the high rates of diagnosis and deaths from these types of cancers. The message is to modify lifestyle and diet, as well as proactively search for precancerous lesions from the age of 40.

Andrea Riquelme, Journalist.- As every May 29, World Digestive Health Day is commemorated, and in Chile the emphasis is on prevention and diagnosis of those digestive cancers with the highest prevalence and mortality: stomach, gallbladder and colon cancers. He Dr. Gustavo Bresky, Vice President of the Chilean Society of Gastroenterology (SChGE), emphasizes the urgent need to modify eating habits by consuming less fat and refined sugars, reducing tobacco and alcohol consumption, along with increasing physical activity and performing preventive tests such as endoscopies, colonoscopies and blood in stools, starting at 40 and 50 years.

In recent years and after the health priorities brought about by the pandemic, many patients have postponed their preventive exams for certain digestive pathologies. Today, specialists observe with concern the increase not only in the number of new cases, but also in the mortality of this type of digestive cancer. “They are cancers with a high impact on Chilean health, since we are one of the countries with the highest mortality in gallbladder cancer, especially in women; In colon cancer, in the last 20 years, the increase in the number of cases and deaths is surprising, and gastric cancer, although its mortality has stabilized, we continue to be among the leaders in the world ranking”, specifies Dr. Bresky.

In order to stop or reverse these figures, the specialist advises patients to have a preventive attitude and to educate them to be responsible in order to tend to the early search for pre-cancerous lesions, since they are mostly silent diseases, without symptoms. In this way, in Bresky’s opinion, their treatments will be less invasive and crippling.

Without a doubt, Chile is among the countries with the worst indicators of obesity and sedentary lifestyle, a situation that contributes to the development of this type of disease. To them is added a diet low in fiber, high in fat and refined sugars, as well as the consumption of alcohol and tobacco.

«In the case of gallbladder cancer, the existence of gallstones increases the risk. Extracting it on time, especially in women’s cases, could improve the indicators. This disease is closely associated with obesity and overweight, as well as the Mapuche ethnic group, which shows a greater predisposition to develop this cancer. In this sense, it is advisable to perform an abdominal ultrasound at age 40 and look for stones, “says the vice president of the Chilean Society of Gastroenterology.

Regarding gastric cancer, the emphasis is on detecting and eradicating infection by Helicobacter pylori, highly prevalent in the Chilean population, and responsible for the development of chronic gastritis that generate pre-cancerous lesions and cancers. In Chile it is possible to diagnose this bacterium through non-invasive methods such as blood test in stool, breath test, or through endoscopy. Its treatment is with antibiotics and its eradication must be confirmed later. “From the age of 40, people with first-degree relatives (siblings, parents, or children) with a history of gastric cancer should have a preventive endoscopy,” says Bresky.

Finally, in the case of colon cancer, it is important to perform a colonoscopy to remove polyps, pre-cancerous lesions, and thus prevent them from continuing to grow and become cancer. From the age of 50, all people should undergo either a stool occult blood test or a preventive colonoscopy and if a good result is obtained, it would not be necessary to repeat the latter even for 7 to 10 years later. In families where there are first-degree relatives with colon cancer, especially if it began in youth, the recommendation is to have the first colonoscopy at age 40.