Gastroscopy after positive screening for faecal immunochemical tests and colonoscopy: A systematic review

Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening using the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) kits based on the detection of occult blood in stool is widely advocated in numerous screening programs worldwide. However, CRC is not commonly diagnosed in positive cases. We undertook this review to determine if there is evidence to suggest the use of opportunistic oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy (OGD) in patients without CRC.

A systematic review encompassing three electronic databases was performed. All peer-reviewed studies of FIT-positive patients who underwent either OGD and colonoscopy concurrently or OGD post-colonoscopy were included. Only studies from 2008 to 2022 using FIT kits were included to ensure studies not previously included in an earlier review were being analysed. A forward citation search of the included articles was also conducted to ensure no relevant articles were missed.

A total of 2409 records were extracted. Only four studies fulfilled the selection criteria and were included. Although the rates of abnormal OGD results were relatively high in the four studies, only 3 of 605 (0.50%) patients had gastric cancer in the entire review sample. No other malignancies were identified in all four studies. Other notable pathologies such as gastric polyps and gastritis were also reported.

There is little overall evidence to recommend UGI screening for all FIT-positive patients following a colonoscopy. However, there may be a role for clinicians to consider opportunistic OGD in this group of patients. Future research should examine patient populations from other sociocultural contexts including cost-effective analysis when considering changes in health guidelines on UGI screening.