GISTAR study recruits 10 000th participant

The GISTAR study, which is being conducted by the University of Latvia in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has now recruited more than 10 000 participants, reaching a major milestone. The GISTAR study is a large multicentre randomized trial to evaluate the effect of preventive strategies in decreasing mortality from gastric cancer in high-risk areas, especially in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe. The participants are being recruited at 10 study centres in Latvia.

The researchers conducting the GISTAR study are investigating whether a combined strategy of testing for Helicobacter pylori infection and pepsinogen testing, followed by H. pylori eradication in positive subjects, and endoscopic follow-up of subjects with serological evidence of atrophic gastritis (a precancerous condition), reduces gastric cancer mortality compared with routine care.

Participants aged 40–64 years from the general population are randomized into a group that undergoes these interventions or a group that receives routine care. Both groups will be followed up for 15 years to evaluate the potential impact of the interventions on gastric cancer mortality.

This study builds on the results of a pilot study in Latvia, completed in 2015. The GISTAR study aims to expand to neighbouring countries in Eastern Europe where the burden of gastric cancer remains high but epidemiological data to develop preventive strategies are limited.

View the GISTAR main study design

Read the GISTAR pilot study description 

Visit the GISTAR study website