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A latest study says that one should get stomach cancer screenings once every three years.

According to the Korean study, getting a screening done every three years will help reduce deaths from stomach cancer.

The recommendations come at a time when stomach cancer is known to be the second most common cause of cancer death.

It is possible to treat stomach cancer if the detection is made early and the screening could be done with  upper endoscopy, which looks at the upper digestive system using a tiny camera at the end of a long, flexible tube, reports Health Day.

For the study, researchers at the National Cancer Center in South Korea studied the screening history of  2,400 plus patients who had been diagnosed with stomach cancer.

The research found that those who underwent screening either once in every year or once in three years intervals had similar stages of gastric cancer at diagnosis. Whereas, those who did not get screening done for up to four years or more, were at a much advanced stage at the time of diagnosis.

"The optimal screening strategy appears to be every three years," study author Dr. Il Ju Choi said in a journal news release. "Gastric cancers are likely to become more advanced before detection with screening intervals longer than three years, but screening more frequently than every three years does not appear to be more beneficial."

"The exception is if you have a family member with gastric cancer," he added. "In that case, you may need to undergo upper endoscopy screening more frequently than every three years."

Also, the study findings revealed that people who had a family history of stomach cancer were at more advanced stages of the disease at diagnosis tine even when screened at 3 years. This implies that those with a family history of the disease could get it done at one year intervals, to be at the safer side.

The study was published online July 16 in the journal Cancer.