A novel approach for the detection of early gastric cancer: Fluorescence spectroscopy of gastric juice

Objective This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of fluorescence spectroscopy of gastric juice for early gastric cancer ( EGC ) screening. Methods Gastric juice was collected from 101 participants who underwent endoscopy in the O utpatient E ndoscopy C enter of P eking U niversity T hird H ospital. The participants were divided into three groups: the normal mucosa or chronic non‐atrophic gastritis ( NM‐CNAG ) group ( n  = 35), advanced gastric cancer ( AGC ) group ( n  = 33) and EGC group ( n  = 33). Fluorescence spectroscopic analysis was performed in all the gastric juice samples and the maximum fluorescence intensity of the first peak ( P 1 FI ) was measured. Results The mean fluorescence intensity of P 1 FI of gastric juice in AGC (92.1 ± 10.7) and EGC (90.8 ± 12.0) groups was significantly higher than that in the NM‐CNAG group (55.7 ± 7.5) ( AGC   vs   NM‐CNAG , P  = 0.006 and EGC   vs   NM‐CNAG , P  = 0.015, respectively). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for the detection of AGC and EGC were 0.681 (95% confidence interval [ CI ] 0.553–0.810, P  = 0.010) and 0.655 (95% CI 0.522–0.787, P  = 0.028). With the P 1 FI of ≥47.7, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for detecting EGC were 69.7%, 57.1% and 63.2%, respectively. Conclusions The enhancement of P 1 FI of gastric juice occurs at the early stage of gastric cancer. Fluorescence spectroscopy of gastric juice may be used as a novel screening tool for the early detection of gastric cancer.