By Bae Ji-sook
Staff reporter
Nearly nine out of every 10 gastric cancer patients diagnosed last year were detected early and thus curable or treatable, Asan Medical Center said Monday.
Dr. Cho Jae-won, chief of the hospital’s healthcare center studied the health checkup results of 380,000 people who had visited the center for tests and found 404 people were diagnosed with various malignant tumors last year. The figure is more than double the 181 confirmed in 2000.
Among the 404 diagnosed last year, gastric cancer accounted for the largest portion with 46 cases and nearly 90 percent of those patients, or 41, were in the early stage of the disease.
In an early stage of gastric cancer, the treatment is simple ― the patient could opt for either abdominal or esophogeal endoscopic surgery to remove the tumor, which are simple procedures and involves less bleeding, leading to less complications and a faster recovery.
Only 10.9 percent, or five, were diagnosed as progressive cancers, requiring chemotherapy and open surgery since they are likely to spread to other parts of the body.
Experts have been stressing the necessity of regular medical checkups. The National Health Insurance Corporation is providing free intensive health checkups for 40 to 66 year-olds.
The agency also finances half of a salary-worker’s yearly regular checkups if they are subscribers.