Toby Keith dies from stomach cancer at the age of 62
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Is that one of the cancers you can get checked for and prevent?
Not OP, but not really.
It would most commonly be detected internally by gastroscopy, the stomach equivalent of a colonoscopy.
You don't want to have those regularly without a compelling reason.
Could also be pickup incidentally by a CT scan. But the scans are more likely to cause cancer via the radiation dose than prevent it.
Thanks! A person in Japan just told me they typically do a gastroscopy or esophagogram annually. I guess various countries consider the risk to benefit ratio differently.
It's sort of chicken and egg.
If they actually find precancerous changes on the scope, they'll start repeating it more frequently. Also if you have risk factors - family history, smoking, alcoholic, chronic H. pylori infection/ulcers.
Screening the entire population with scopes though just doesn't scale even if people would tolerate it. It's basically being asked to swallow a garden hose. Not to mention the sedative and perforation risks.
Screening annually is also pretty insane. The average person without risk factors after 50 only gets a colonscopy every decade.