How often should a gastroscopy be performed for routine physical examination

As for people with routine physical examinations, if there are no high-risk factors for gastric cancer, it is enough to do it once every 3-5 years. For those with high-risk factors, the interval should be shortened to 1-2 years or even half a year. It is not necessary for everyone to have a gastroscopy every year.

I have been working in the endoscopy center of a tertiary hospital for nearly 6 years. I met a 27-year-old young man a while ago. I saw several cases of young people suffering from gastric cancer through short videos. I was so scared that I made an appointment for a regular gastroscopy every year for 3 consecutive years. After each procedure, my throat was so swollen that I could not even swallow porridge. As a result, the results of each examination were superficial gastritis, and there was no Helicobacter pylori. It was a pure suffering.

Of course, this does not mean that gastroscopy is unnecessary, but the interval really depends on the person and cannot be one size fits all. For example, if there are immediate family members who were diagnosed with gastric cancer before the age of 50, who have a history of atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, or gastric polyps, or who cannot live without pickles and meat, drink alcohol all year round, or have Helicobacter pylori infection that has not been eradicated, these are high-risk groups for gastric cancer. You must listen to the gastroenterologist's individualized recommendations and shorten the re-examination interval. Don't stick to the 3-year general population standard for procrastination.

Nowadays, academic circles have different views on this. Some experts believe that people over 40 years old, regardless of whether they have gastric symptoms or not, should have a baseline gastroscopy to facilitate subsequent comparison of changes in lesions. Others believe that as long as there are no high-risk factors and no recurring stomach bloating, stomach pain, or acid reflux, before the age of 45 There is no need to deliberately add gastroscopy to routine physical examinations. In fact, both of these opinions have clinical basis. There is no need to worry about which one is right. If you are highly sensitive to health and have a sufficient budget, there is nothing wrong with having it done once at the age of 40. It is really troublesome and not uncomfortable. It is not too late to wait until you have stomach discomfort that lasts for more than one month to get checked again.

In fact, having a gastroscopy is equivalent to taking a high-definition "healthy snapshot" of the stomach. Today's high-definition electronic endoscopes can detect even tiny lesions of 1 mm. It usually takes 5 to 10 years for normal gastric mucosa to develop into gastric cancer. Examinations that are too closely spaced are really excessive medical treatment. Not to mention the cost, ordinary gastroscopy can slightly irritate the throat and gastric mucosa, and painless gastroscopy requires short-acting anesthesia. There is no need to suffer this unnecessary crime.

If you are really not sure how often you should do it, don't listen to the salesmen of the physical examination center. Call a general number of the gastroenterology department and let the doctor spend two minutes asking about your medical history and family history. It is much more reliable than blindly checking the fragmented information on the Internet.