CONFERENCE
The meeting was chaired by Dr. Jin Young Park, Head of the IARC Gastric Cancer Prevention Team, and was held within the framework of the EUROHELICAN project.
The conclusions of the Working Group will be published as an IARC Working Group Report, which will review H. pylori screening and treatment strategies as specific interventions for the primary prevention of gastric cancer. The report will include an overview not only of Europe, but also of regions around the world, including countries with different levels of Human Development Index and disease prevalence.
The working group report will include chapters on the epidemiology of H. pylori and gastric cancer, a summary of existing guidelines, current global gastric cancer prevention efforts, needs and readiness assessments, selection of screening methods and treatment regimens, management of antibiotic use, process and outcome indicators for improving quality and equity, and how to optimize the cost-benefit ratio of strategies.
“Although there are several ways to reduce the burden of gastric cancer, it currently appears that a “search and treat” strategy for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection may be the most appropriate for Europe. It is currently expected that projects such as GISTAR, EUROHELICAN, TOGAS and EUCanScreen will provide the necessary evidence on which methods are best to reduce the risk of gastric cancer. The results obtained will be important not only for Latvia, but also for other European countries with similar statistics, as well as countries outside Europe. We already know that not only in Europe, but also in the world, the GISTAR study data will provide significant new information. “ emphasized Professor Mārcis Leja.
The data obtained in the GISTAR study are also used in other studies:
TOGAS (Towards Gastric Screening implementation in the European Union);
EUROHELICAN (Accelerating gastric cancer reduction in Europe through Helicobacter pylori eradication);
EUCanScreen (European Joint Action on Cancer Screening).
The project has received funding from the European Union's EU4Health programme under grant agreement No. 10107994
 organized a three-day Working Group meeting on H. pylori screening and treatment strategies for adults for the prevention of gastric cancer in Lyon, France, from 17 to 19 February 2025. The meeting, which brought together 33 experts from 21 countries, also included a presentation by Professor Mārcis Leja, Director of the Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine, University of Latvia.){kind=link}