Increasing screening and surveillance
While the esophageal cancer data is encouraging, these data otherwise clearly highlight the need to step up efforts to help level gastrointestinal cancer disparities, according to Byron Cryer, MD, professor of internal medicine and associate dean for the office of faculty diversity and development at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
AGA Institute
Dr. Byron Cryer
“Clearly more work needs to be done for the other four cancers,” Dr. Cryer said in an interview.
Screening and surveillance may be key to addressing those disparities, not only for colorectal cancer, but for the liver and gastric cancers for which disparities were seen throughout racial and ethnic groups in this study.
“We know that if we get rid of hepatitis C virus early, you can prevent those downstream complications such as cancer,” Dr. Cryer said. “It’s same thing with the gastric cancer – if we get rid of Helicobacter pylori early on in the infection, we decrease the burden of cancer down downstream years later.”
Dr. Bui provided no financial disclosures related to the research. Dr. Cryer has nothing to disclose.