Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common tumors in the gastrointestinal tract, and China has a high incidence area with a high burden on the disease. As early symptoms of ESCC are not obvious, the mortality rate is high, and it is often diagnosed in the intermediate and advanced stages. However, early screening and treatment may reduce morbidity and mortality.
Methods: Screening methods are divided into endoscopic and non-endoscopic screening.
Results: Endoscopic screening cannot be widely used because of its invasive nature and high cost. Currently, non-endoscopic screening consists primarily of tumor biomarkers and cytology, and tumor biomarkers including autoantibodies, circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, exosomes and serum metabolomics are more likely to be effective. But the efficiency of early diagnosis of esophageal cancer is low and the accuracy of screening needs to be improved. The aim of this study is to summarize advances in non-endoscopic esophageal cancer screening and strategies to provide a scientific basis and research idea for esophageal cancer prevention and control.
Conclusions: Non-endoscopic screening is better than endoscopic screening. And the application of tumor biomarkers is much better than other non-endoscopic screening methods.
Keywords: Biomarkers; Esophageal cytology; Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; Non-endoscopic; Screening.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.