Is it a misdiagnosis to find gastric cancer in a barium meal? This answer is the correct one

Can gastroscopy be misdiagnosed as gastric cancer? Gastroscopy is usually a method commonly used to examine gastric diseases. However, since the early symptoms of gastric cancer are not obvious, the diagnosis of gastric cancer cannot be very accurate. Let us take a closer look at the relevant situation below.

A barium swallow test is a diagnostic procedure used to image the gastrointestinal tract. When normal X-ray images are taken, the intestines do not show up very well on the images. For this reason, the patient is asked to eat a barium swallow, which is a white liquid containing the chemical barium sulfate. This chemical outlines the upper gastrointestinal tract, which includes the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine. Since X-rays cannot pass through barium, it will be highlighted in the image. This test is sometimes called a barium swallow.

Why is a barium meal used?

Doctors often recommend a barium swallow when a person complains of chest pain, acid reflux, or difficulty swallowing. It is also recommended when there is unexplained vomiting, abdominal pain, indigestion, or blood in the stool. This occurs when there is blood loss from the stomach or other parts of the gastrointestinal tract. A barium swallow can help diagnose inflammation, ulcers, or tumors in the esophagus, stomach, or duodenum.

What are the alternatives to a barium swallow?

If you do not want to take a barium meal, you may choose a gastroscopy. During this procedure, a gastroscope is inserted through the mouth to examine the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum. The gastroscope is a narrow, flexible instrument with a camera that takes images. Another option is to get a CT scan, which takes three-dimensional images of the intestines. Sometimes a variety of diagnostic measures are needed to reach a final conclusion.

How to prepare a barium meal

You must be on an empty stomach before taking the barium meal, so do not have any food or drink until midnight before the test. All testing centers provide different fasting instructions and will have to follow accordingly. Smoking should also be avoided because it increases gastric secretions. Some doctors also ask patients not to take medications, especially antacids, on the day of the test. Diabetic patients should also ask for any specific instructions related to their condition.

What happens during a barium swallow?

During a barium swallow exam, the patient is given liquid barium to swallow, along with a mixture of pellets and citric acid. The pellets combine with the citric acid, releasing carbon dioxide, which causes the intestines to distend. The distension caused by the carbon dioxide should remain constant, so the patient should avoid burping. Depending on the type of image required, the patient is asked to lie in different positions - standing, sleeping, etc. The X-ray machine takes the image, and the patient is asked to hold his breath for the exact time the image is taken. Once the image is satisfactory, the patient can leave.

In the past, many people refused to go to the hospital for examination due to concerns about the pain of gastroscopy. Even in modern times, when painless gastroscopy technology has become very mature, some patients still hold the wrong idea and fall into the trap of misdiagnosis of gastric cancer. Can gastroscopy misdiagnose gastric cancer? This question must be confirmed, so let's take a look.

1. Gastroscopy is very painful Gastroscopy generally does not cause pain. With the continuous improvement of the quality of gastroscopy mirrors (thinner, softer, and easier to operate) and the continuous improvement of the operating doctors' skills, more than half of the patients only feel mild discomfort when undergoing gastroscopy. Generally, a skilled doctor can complete a gastroscopy (including taking pictures, taking biopsies, etc.) within 3-5 minutes, and rarely more than 10 minutes for complex patients. Most patients can bear it.

2. Breath test replaces gastroscopy. With the consensus on the role of Helicobacter pylori infection in the pathogenesis of gastroduodenal diseases, many medical institutions have carried out breath tests to detect Helicobacter pylori infection. However, some inappropriate propaganda, such as "blow gently, you can check for stomach problems", misled many patients. Some people even have obvious symptoms of gastric cancer but are still unwilling to undergo gastroscopy, and are superstitious about "blowing".

3. Gastroscopy will aggravate bleeding Gastroscopy, especially if performed within 48 hours of bleeding, plays an important role in the treatment of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Some patients and their families worry that gastroscopy will aggravate bleeding.

In fact, gastroscopy is performed under the condition of directly seeing the esophagus, stomach, and duodenal mucosa, and generally will not touch the lesions and aggravate the damage, unless there is esophageal varicose vein rupture and bleeding, the patient does not cooperate well, and has severe nausea, which indirectly causes bleeding.

4. X-barium meal is painless and can replace gastroscopy. Gastroscopy has many advantages over X-barium meal examination. First, gastroscopy is performed under direct vision, and superficial lesions can be observed.

Secondly, gastric mucosal biopsy can be taken under gastroscopy, which is necessary for the diagnosis of gastric mucosal atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, atypical hyperplasia and gastric cancer. At the same time, the biopsy specimen can also be tested for Helicobacter pylori. In most cases, x-barium meal examination cannot replace gastroscopy.

5. Young people do not need to undergo gastroscopy. Whether young patients with stomach problems need gastroscopy depends on their symptoms, local incidence of gastric cancer and the efficacy of treatment.

Can gastroscopy be misdiagnosed as gastric cancer? When patients have warning symptoms including gastrointestinal bleeding or anemia, weight loss, repeated vomiting and dysphagia, gastroscopy is required regardless of age. Whether patients with other indigestion symptoms should undergo gastroscopy immediately depends on the local incidence of gastric cancer. Some young patients who do not respond well to common gastric treatment also need gastroscopy to clarify their condition and treat the disease.