CANCRO GASTRICO: EPIDEMIOLOGIA, CONDIZIONI AD ALTO RISCHIO, MODELLI DI CANCEROGENESI

In the last thirty years a decreasing incidence of gastric cancer has been registered. In the same period the mortality rates were reducing but this phenomenon is also attributable to the great progress in prevention, early diagnosis and multidisciplinary treatment. Based on epidemiological, experimental and pathological data, two main groups of gastric cancer have been described: 'intestinal types' and 'non-intestinal types'. The knowledge about precursors and histopathogenesis of gastric carcinoma has greatly improved. However, a multistage model of carcinogenesis is well supported by scientific evidence only for the intestinal type. Factors (other than genetic predisposition) involved in the etiopathological model of the non-intestinal type are still obscure.