About TOGAS

No effective screening modality to prevent gastric cancer is available in Europe. Elimination of H. pylori bacteria is expected to decrease the mortality by 40%; another approach is early detection of precancerous lesions for surveillance.

The TOGAS project aims at contributing to the improvement and fostering of health in the European Union by decreasing the burden, caused by gastric cancer. More precisely, TOGAS contributes to the Flagship 4 of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan: putting forward a new EU-Supported Cancer Screening Scheme, particularly, by developing novel approaches for screening and early detection of gastric cancer, and by providing options to extend screening for new cancers that are currently not included in the Recommendations of the European Council.

The general objective of the TOGAS is to provide the missing evidence-based knowledge to be further transferred to design plan and implement appropriate gastric cancer prevention across the EU.

The results from this project will help policy makers to incorporate gastric cancer screening into their healthcare priorities while balancing its effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability with long-term potential adverse effects.

TOGAS has three specific objectives:

  1. Assessment of state of play, as well as the needs of MSs and target populations in gastric cancer prevention, including information on "opportunistic" screening initiatives, organised in public and private setting.
  2. Assessment of the appropriateness of various gastric cancer-screening modalities for the use in the EU.
  3. Assuring the sustainability of the results by an effective dissemination strategy and coordination of the methodology with the approaches used within the EU, including the European Guidelines and Quality Assurance Schemes.

TOGAS will involve three pilot studies, each designed to address specific aspects of gastric cancer screening and early detection. Cost-effectiveness modelling and addressing medical ethics aspects will be an important integral part of the project.