• Global trend: Nearly 50% of new cases and deaths of gastric cancer worldwide are from China.
• Chinese trend: Both the incidence rate and the mortality rate rank the third among all cancer types in China.
• Cure rate: Over 90% for stage I gastric cancer, and less than 12% for stage IV.
• Predisposing factors: Poor diet, helicobacter pylori (HP) infection, etc.

Disease characteristics

       Gastric cancer originates from malignant lesions in the epithelium of gastric mucosa. There are significant geographical differences in the incidence rates of gastric cancer in China with east coast and northwest regions harder hit than southern China. The ratio of male to female incidence rates is about 2:1, and the age of onset is earlier in men. Diet, smoking, work stress, HP infection and other factors can contribute to the development of gastric cancer. Currently, early diagnosis rate of gastric cancer is low as the sensitivity and specificity of tumor-related antigen tests are low.