Carcinoid tumors of the stomach: a clinical and radiographic study

OBJECTIVE

Our purpose is to describe associated and coexistent diseases of gastric carcinoid tumors, the unique biologic behavior of these tumors, the appearance of these tumors on fluoroscopic and CT images, and the radiologic management of these neoplasms.

CONCLUSION

First, multiple gastric carcinoid tumors are associated with enterochromaffin-like cell hyperplasia, chronic atrophic gastritis, and pernicious anemia and have a low risk of malignancy. Second, solitary gastric carcinoid tumors, or gastric carcinoid tumors associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia-type I (MEN-I) and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, have a higher potential for metastatic disease. Third, the radiologic appearance and management of these tumors depend on the clinical background of the patient.

Significance of (18)F-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-glucose accumulation in the stomach on positron emission tomography

OBJECTIVE

To explain the accumulation of (18)F-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-glucose ((18)FDG) on positron emission tomography (PET) in the stomach and differences in its pattern, we focus on the accumulation pattern in association with endoscopic findings of the gastric mucosa and Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection.

METHODS

Of 599 cases undergoing (18)FDG-PET examinations, we retrospectively analyzed the pattern of (18)FDG accumulation in the stomach, findings of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and Hp infection. The pattern of (18)FDG accumulation was classified into three groups: localized accumulation only in the fornix (Group A, 32 patients), diffuse accumulation throughout the entire stomach (Group B, 49 patients), and no accumulation (Group C, 191 patients).

RESULTS

Regarding the relation between Hp infection and (18)FDG accumulation, Hp infection was positive in 56.3% of Group A, 73.5% of Group B, and 24.1% of Group C, with significant differences (p < 0.001). Regarding the relation between (18)FDG accumulation and gastric mucosal inflammation, when Groups A and B were compared with Group C, nearly half of the cases in the former groups had papular redness with a significantly higher frequency of redness and erosion. Three cases found to have malignant tumor were limited to the former groups. One MALT lymphoma case was also found in the same group. Accumulation of (18)FDG largely corresponded to mucosal inflammation including superficial gastritis and erosive gastritis, and therefore the main cause of non-specific (18)FDG accumulation was considered to be inflammatory mucosa (mainly redness). The accumulation pattern was not associated with atrophic changes of the gastric mucosa or with Hp infection, but with mucosal inflammatory changes, including redness and erosion localized to the fornix.

CONCLUSIONS

Accumulation of (18)FDG in the stomach suggests a high probability of the presence of inflammatory change in the gastric mucosa forming a background for the development of cancer or malignant lymphoma, and thus requires further endoscopic examinations.

Correlation between serum vitamin B12 level and peripheral neuropathy in atrophic gastritis

AIM

To explore the correlation between serum vitamin B12 level and peripheral neuropathy in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG).

METHODS

A total of 593 patients diagnosed with chronic gastritis by gastroscopy and pathological examination from September 2013 to September 2016 were selected for this study. The age of these patients ranged within 18- to 75-years-old. Blood pressure, height and weight were measured in each patient, and the body mass index value was calculated. Furthermore, gastric acid, serum gastrin, serum vitamin and serum creatinine tests were performed, and peripheral nerve conduction velocity and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) were detected. In addition, the type of gastritis was determined by gastroscopy. The above factors were used as independent variables to analyze chronic gastritis with peripheral neuropathy and vitamin B12 deficiency risk factors, and to analyze the relationship between vitamin B12 levels and peripheral nerve conduction velocity. In addition, in the treatment of CAG on the basis of vitamin B12, patients with peripheral neuropathy were observed.

RESULTS

Age, H. pylori infection, CAG, vitamin B9 and vitamin B12 were risk factors for the occurrence of peripheral nerve degeneration. Furthermore, CAG and H. pylori infection were risk factors for chronic gastritis associated with vitamin B12 deficiency. Serum vitamin B12 level was positively correlated with sensory nerve conduction velocity in the tibial nerve (R = 0.463). After vitamin B12 supplementation, patients with peripheral neuropathy improved.

CONCLUSION

Serum vitamin B12 levels in patients with chronic gastritis significantly decreased, and the occurrence of peripheral neuropathy had a certain correlation. CAG and H. pylori infection are risk factors for vitamin B12 deficiency and peripheral neuropathy. When treating CAG, vitamin B12 supplementation can significantly reduce peripheral nervous system lesions. Therefore, the occurrence of peripheral neuropathy associated with vitamin B12 deficiency may be considered in patients with CAG. Furthermore, the timely supplementation of vitamin B12 during the clinical treatment of CAG can reduce or prevent peripheral nervous system lesions.

Narrow band imaging and serology in the assessment of premalignant gastric pathology

BACKGROUND

Patient outcomes in gastric adenocarcinoma are poor due to late diagnosis. Detecting and treating at the premalignant stage has the potential to improve this. Helicobacter pylori is also a strong risk factor for this disease.

AIMS

Primary aims were to assess the diagnostic accuracy of magnified narrow band imaging (NBI-Z) endoscopy and serology in detecting normal mucosa, H. pylori gastritis and gastric atrophy. Secondary aims were to compare the diagnostic accuracies of two classification systems using both NBI-Z and white light endoscopy with magnification (WLE-Z) and evaluate the inter-observer agreement.

METHODS

Patients were prospectively recruited. Images of gastric mucosa were stored with histology and serum for IgG H. pylori and Pepsinogen (PG) I/II ELISAs. Blinded expert endoscopists agreed on mucosal pattern. Mucosal images and serological markers were compared with histology. Kappa statistics determined inter-observer variability for randomly allocated images among four experts and four non-experts.

RESULTS

116 patients were prospectively recruited. Diagnostic accuracy of NBI-Z for determining normal gastric mucosa was 0.87(95%CI 0.82-0.92), H. pylori gastritis 0.65(95%CI 0.55-0.75) and gastric atrophy 0.88(95%CI 0.81-0.94). NBI-Z was superior to serology at detecting gastric atrophy: NBI-Z gastric atrophy 0.88(95%CI 0.81-0.94) vs PGI/II ratio < 3 0.74(95%CI 0.62-0.85) p<.0001. Overall NBI-Z was superior to WLE-Z in detecting disease using two validated classifications. Inter-observer agreement was 0.63(95%CI 0.51-0.73).

CONCLUSIONS

NBI-Z accurately detects changes in the GI mucosa which currently depend on histology. NBI-Z is useful in the detection of precancerous conditions, potentially improving patient outcomes with early intervention to prevent gastric cancer.

Comparative analysis of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, double-contrast upper gastrointestinal barium X-ray radiography, and the titer of serum anti-Helicobacter pylori IgG focusing on the diagnosis of atrophic gastritis

BACKGROUND

Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGI-ES) and double-contrast upper gastrointestinal barium X-ray radiography (UGI-XR) are two major image-based methods to diagnose atrophic gastritis, which is mostly induced by Helicobacter pylori infection. However, there have been few studies directly comparing them.

METHODS

Atrophic gastritis was evaluated using the data of 962 healthy subjects who underwent UGI-ES and UGI-XR within 1 year.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

Based on UGI-ES and UGI-XR, 602 subjects did not have atrophic gastritis and 254 subjects did have it. Considering UGI-ES-based atrophic gastritis as the standard, sensitivity and specificity of UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis were 92.0 % (254/276) and 92.8 % (602/649), respectively. The seven-grade Kimura-Takemoto classification of UGI-ES-based atrophic gastritis showed a strong and significant association with the four-grade UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis. Sensitivity and specificity of serum anti-Helicobacter pylori IgG to detect UGI-ES/UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis were 89.4 % (227/254) and 99.8 % (601/602), indicating that atrophic gastritis can be overlooked according to serum anti-Helicobacter pylori IgG alone.

Associated factors of atrophic gastritis diagnosed by double-contrast upper gastrointestinal barium X-ray radiography: a cross-sectional study analyzing 6,901 healthy subjects in Japan

BACKGROUND

Double-contrast upper gastrointestinal barium X-ray radiography (UGI-XR) is one of the most widely conducted gastric cancer screening methods. It has been executed to find gastric cancer, but has not been usually executed to detect premalignant atrophic mucosa of stomach. To understand the meaning of UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis, we analyzed its association with several causative factors including Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection.

METHODS

We evaluated 6,901 healthy adults in Japan. UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis was diagnosed based on the irregular shape of areae gastricae and its expansion in the stomach.

RESULTS

Of the 6,433 subjects with no history of HP eradication and free from gastric acid suppressants, 1,936 were diagnosed as UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis (mild: 234, moderate: 822, severe: 880). These were univariately associated with serum HP IgG and serum pepsinogen I/II ratio with statistical significance. The multiple logistic analysis calculating standardized coefficients (β) and odds ratio (OR) demonstrated that serum HP IgG (β = 1.499, OR = 4.48), current smoking (β = 0.526, OR = 1.69), age (β = 0.401, OR = 1.49), low serum pepsinogen I/II ratio (β = 0.339, OR = 1.40), and male gender (β = 0.306, OR = 1.36) showed significant positive association with UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis whereas drinking and body mass index did not. Among the age/sex/smoking/drinking-matched 227 pairs derived from chronically HP-infected and successfully HP-eradicated subjects, UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis was detected in 99.1% of the former but in only 59.5% of the latter subjects (p<0.0001). Contrastively, UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis was detected in 13 of 14 HP-positive proton pump inhibitor users (92.9%) and 33 of 34 HP-positive histamine H2-receptor antagonist users (97.1%), which are not significantly different from gastric acid suppressant-free subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis is positively associated with Helicobacter pylori infection, current smoking, age, decreased serum pepsinogen I/II ratio, and male gender. Eradication of Helicobacter pylori seems to superficially improve UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis whereas intake of gastric acid suppressants does not.

Blue Light Imaging and Linked Color Imaging for the Characterization of Mucosal Changes in Chronic Gastritis: A Clinicians View and Brief Technical Report

BACKGROUND

Blue light imaging (BLI) and linked color imaging (LCI) are new imaging modalities for the endoscopic evaluation of mucosal changes within the digestive tract. There is little experience with these modalities in the characterization of chronic gastritis (CG) intestinal metaplasia (IM) and atrophy in the stomach.

AIMS AND METHODS

In a single-center observational pilot study, we correlated endoscopic findings with histology in selected patients.

RESULTS

Findings from 29 patients were included in the analysis. Six patients had macroscopically normal gastric mucosa at endoscopy, and this was confirmed histologically in 5 of them. At endoscopy, 15 patients had the presence of IM in the antrum predicted, and this was confirmed histologically in 11 (73%). In the corpus, we predicted the presence of IM in 14 patients, and this was confirmed in 11 (78%) at histology. Eleven patients had the endoscopic suspicion of atrophy in antrum, which was confirmed in 9 patients (82%). In total, 14 patients had endoscopic suspicion of atrophy in corpus mucosa at endoscopy, but only 10 were confirmed in histology (71%). The concordance of endoscopic classification and histology was 93% for antrum and 88% for corpus. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value for IM were 0.74 and 0.83 and for atrophy 0.63 and 0.97, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

LCI and BLI are helpful in characterization of mucosal changes in CG. The ability to rule out premalignant conditions by endoscopy only reflects the clinical use and harbors significant clinical implications.

Endoscopic and Upper Gastrointestinal Barium X-ray Radiography Images of Early-stage Autoimmune Gastritis: A Report of Two Cases

We herein report two patients with early-stage autoimmune gastritis who did not exhibit complete atrophy. Endoscopic examinations showed no manifestations of severe atrophic gastritis, but revealed a mosaic pattern with slight swelling of the areae gastricae restricted to the corpus in both patients. In the patient in case 2, upper gastrointestinal barium X-ray radiography revealed a slightly protruded irregular areae gastricae throughout the gastric body, except for in the antrum. Our findings emphasize the need for clinicians to recognize that autoimmune gastritis might be present in the absence of severe atrophic gastritis; this can aid in the identification of the early stages of autoimmune gastritis.

Atrophic gastritis in pernicious anemia: diagnosis by double-contrast radiography

A retrospective study was performed to determine whether the areae gastricae pattern in the stomach or other radiologic features could be used on double-contrast upper gastrointestinal examinations to accurately diagnose atrophic gastritis in pernicious anemia. The double-contrast studies from 21 patients with pernicious anemia and 55 age-matched controls were interspersed and reviewed blindly to assess gastric size, mucosal folds, and the areae gastricae pattern in the stomach. The best set of criteria for differentiating the pernicious anemia group from the controls included a fundal diameter of 8 cm or less, absent mucosal folds in the fundus or body, and small (i.e., 1-2 mm in size) or absent areae gastricae. This combination of findings was present in 81% of patients with pernicious anemia but it also was present in 11% of the controls, so that atrophic gastritis in pernicious anemia could not be reliably diagnosed on radiologic criteria. Nevertheless, patients with pernicious anemia invariably had small or absent areae gastricae in the stomach, so that the presence of prominent areae gastricae, particularly in the fundus, may be a useful criterion for excluding this disease.

Atrophic gastritis and enlarged gastric folds diagnosed by double-contrast upper gastrointestinal barium X-ray radiography are useful to predict future gastric cancer development based on the 3-year prospective observation

BACKGROUND

Double-contrast upper gastrointestinal barium X-ray radiography (UGI-XR) is the standard gastric cancer screening method in Japan. Atrophic gastritis and enlarged gastric folds are considered the two major features of Helicobacter pylori-induced chronic gastritis, but the clinical meaning of evaluating them by UGI-XR has not been elucidated.

METHODS

We analyzed healthy UGI-XR examinees without a history of gastrectomy, previous Helicobacter pylori eradication and usage of gastric acid suppressants.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Of the 6433 subjects, 1936 (30.1 %) had atrophic gastritis and 1253 (19.5 %) had enlarged gastric folds. During the 3-year prospective observational follow-up, gastric cancer developed in seven subjects, six of whom (85.7 %) had atrophic gastritis with H. pylori infection and five of whom (71.4 %) had enlarged gastric folds with H. pylori infection. The Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank testing revealed that both UGI-XR-based atrophic gastritis (p = 0.0011) and enlarged gastric folds (p = 0.0003) are significant predictors for future gastric cancer incidence.

Sarcoidosis, sclerosing cholangitis, and chronic atrophic autoimmune gastritis: a case of infiltrative sclerosing cholangitis

We report a patient in whom sarcoidosis coexisted with sclerosing cholangitis and chronic atrophic autoimmune gastritis. There are some autoimmune diseases associated with primary sclerosing cholangitis; the difference between sarcoidosis and all other autoimmune diseases associated with primary sclerosing cholangitis is the ability of the former to damage the biliary tree. Moreover, when sarcoidosis behaves like cholestasis it can damage the biliary tree, mimicking primary sclerosing cholangitis, with high immunoglobulin M but without inflammatory bowel disease and p-ANCAs negative. We believe that it should be regarded as a single disease "infiltrative sclerosing cholangitis" because this is not a primary disease and sarcoidosis would be responsible for a beaded biliary tree.

A digital pathology workflow for the segmentation and classification of gastric glands: Study of gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia cases

Gastric cancer is one of the most frequent causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Gastric atrophy (GA) and gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM) of the mucosa of the stomach have been found to increase the risk of gastric cancer and are considered precancerous lesions. Therefore, the early detection of GA and IM may have a valuable role in histopathological risk assessment. However, GA and IM are difficult to confirm endoscopically and, following the Sydney protocol, their diagnosis depends on the analysis of glandular morphology and on the identification of at least one well-defined goblet cell in a set of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) -stained biopsy samples. To this end, the precise segmentation and classification of glands from the histological images plays an important role in the diagnostic confirmation of GA and IM. In this paper, we propose a digital pathology end-to-end workflow for gastric gland segmentation and classification for the analysis of gastric tissues. The proposed GAGL-VTNet, initially, extracts both global and local features combining multi-scale feature maps for the segmentation of glands and, subsequently, it adopts a vision transformer that exploits the visual dependences of the segmented glands towards their classification. For the analysis of gastric tissues, segmentation of mucosa is performed through an unsupervised model combining energy minimization and a U-Net model. Then, features of the segmented glands and mucosa are extracted and analyzed. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed methodology we created the GAGL dataset consisting of 85 WSI, collected from 20 patients. The results demonstrate the existence of significant differences of the extracted features between normal, GA and IM cases. The proposed approach for gland and mucosa segmentation achieves an object dice score equal to 0.908 and 0.967 respectively, while for the classification of glands it achieves an F1 score equal to 0.94 showing great potential for the automated quantification and analysis of gastric biopsies.

Chronic atrophic gastritis detection with a convolutional neural network considering stomach regions

BACKGROUND

The risk of gastric cancer increases in patients with Helicobacter pylori-associated chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). X-ray examination can evaluate the condition of the stomach, and it can be used for gastric cancer mass screening. However, skilled doctors for interpretation of X-ray examination are decreasing due to the diverse of inspections.

AIM

To evaluate the effectiveness of stomach regions that are automatically estimated by a deep learning-based model for CAG detection.

METHODS

We used 815 gastric X-ray images (GXIs) obtained from 815 subjects. The ground truth of this study was the diagnostic results in X-ray and endoscopic examinations. For a part of GXIs for training, the stomach regions are manually annotated. A model for automatic estimation of the stomach regions is trained with the GXIs. For the rest of them, the stomach regions are automatically estimated. Finally, a model for automatic CAG detection is trained with all GXIs for training.

RESULTS

In the case that the stomach regions were manually annotated for only 10 GXIs and 30 GXIs, the harmonic mean of sensitivity and specificity of CAG detection were 0.955 ± 0.002 and 0.963 ± 0.004, respectively.

CONCLUSION

By estimating stomach regions automatically, our method contributes to the reduction of the workload of manual annotation and the accurate detection of the CAG.

Detection of early stage gastric cancers in screening laser endoscopy using linked color imaging for patients with atrophic gastritis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Laser endoscopy involves blue laser imaging in bright mode (BLI-bright). Linked color imaging (LCI) is superior to white light imaging (WLI) for detecting gastric cancers. This study aimed to detect gastric cancers on screening endoscopy using not only WLI but also BLI-bright and LCI in patients with atrophic gastritis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A total of 500 patients with atrophic gastritis undergoing screening esophagogastroduodenoscopy were included. The gastric lumen was observed in the WLI mode, followed by the LCI and BLI-bright modes. When gastric neoplasms were suspected, the mode was changed to WLI, and we sprayed indigo carmine. Finally, biopsy specimens were taken for those lesions and pathological diagnosis was made. We compared the size, morphology, and color of gastric neoplasms found by the first WLI mode and those detected by only the LCI mode or BLI-bright mode.

RESULTS

We detected 16 gastric neoplasms (3.2%), of which 13 were early gastric cancers (EGCs) and three were gastric adenomas. Ten EGCs and two gastric adenomas (75%) were detected by the first WLI mode; three EGCs and one gastric adenoma (25%) were missed by the first WLI mode and were detected by the LCI mode or BLI-bright mode. All were less than 1 cm in diameter and were reddish. Mean diameter of the lesions was significantly less for LCI-detected or BLI-bright-detected lesions than for WLI-detected lesions (7.8 vs 21.2 mm).

CONCLUSIONS

Laser endoscopy is useful for detecting EGCs by LCI for patients with atrophic gastritis.

Quantitative Diagnosis of Atrophic Gastritis by Probe-Based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy

AIMS

The aims of this study were to characterize nonatrophic and atrophic gastric mucosa under conventional endoscopy and probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) modes and to define quantitative diagnostic parameters for these lesions under pCLE.

METHOD

In phase I, 64 patients with gastric mucosal lesions diagnosed by gastrointestinal endoscopy were enrolled in the study. Normal mucosa and suspicious lesions were evaluated under normal white light imaging (WLI) and pCLE mode. Descriptive characteristic of gastric mucosal inflammation and atrophy under pCLE were defined according to the histology. In phase II, the criteria for nonatrophic gastritis (NAG) and chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) under pCLE were used to diagnose the mucosal lesions in 431 patients. Diagnostic accuracy of each endoscopy modes was evaluated by measuring the concordance with histology.

RESULT

A total of 64 patients with 187 positions were enrolled in the first part of this study. According to the histological diagnosis, the vessel diameter was increased in the NAG (11.18 ± 0.1 μm) and CAG (13.21 ± 0.29 μm) and CAG (13.21 ± 0.29 μm) and CAG (13.21 ± 0.29 μm) and CAG (13.21 ± 0.29 μm) and CAG (13.21 ± 0.29 μm) and CAG (13.21 ± 0.29 μm) and CAG (13.21 ± 0.29 .

CONCLUSION

pCLE shows high potential for the diagnosis of gastric inflammation and atrophy based on quantitative criteria and has the ability to be a substitute for histology in the diagnosis of diffuse lesions in the stomach.

[A case of vitamin B12 deficiency with involuntary movements and bilateral basal ganglia lesions]

An 86-year-old woman with a one-year history of dementia was admitted to our hospital complaining of loss of appetite, hallucinations, and disturbance of consciousness. She gradually presented with chorea-like involuntary movements of the extremities. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed bilateral symmetrical hyperintense signals in the basal ganglia. The serum vitamin B12 level was below the lower detection limit of 50 pg/ml. The homocysteine level was markedly elevated at 115.8 nmol/ml. Anti-intrinsic factor and anti-parietal cell antibody tests were positive. Gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed atrophic gastritis. The patient was diagnosed with encephalopathy due to vitamin B12 deficiency caused by pernicious anemia. Involuntary movements and MRI abnormalities improved with parenteral vitamin B12 supplementation. Bilateral basal ganglia lesions are rare manifestations of adult vitamin B12 deficiency. The present case is considered valuable in identifying the pathophysiology of involuntary movement due to vitamin B12 deficiency.

A non-invasive combined strategy to improve the appropriateness of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy

Background and aim Increasing the appropriateness of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGIE) improves the quality of care while containing costs. The aim of this study was to improve the appropriateness of UGIE through a process involving evaluation of prescriptions and the use of a non-invasive alternative. Materials and methods A senior endoscopist evaluated the appropriateness of all outpatient referrals for UGIE and established the proper timing. Referrals were either accepted and programmed, canceled, or substituted by a non-invasive evaluation of gastric function, determining serum levels of gastrin-17 (G17), Pepsinogen I (PGI) and II (PGII), and antibodies against Helicobacter pylori. Results A total of 5102 requests for UGIE examinations were evaluated; 540 (10.4%) were inappropriate and had been prescribed for: gastroesophageal reflux disease (n=307), surveillance with erroneous timing (n=113), dyspepsia (n=66), other indications (n=20), and absence of written indication (n=34). Gastric function was evaluated in 282/540 patients; findings included normal values in 94 patients without proton-pump inhibitor therapy (PPI) and in 48 on PPI, active H pylori infection in 56, previous H pylori infection in 30, GERD in n=50, and atrophic gastritis in n=4. UGIE was performed in the latter 4 cases.  Within 2 years (range 1-22 months) of the initial refusal, 105/504 patients underwent UGIE, with normal endoscopic findings in 71/105 (67.5%), and with no cases of cancer. Conclusions This strategy, based on a strict control of prescriptions, is effective to increase the appropriateness while containing public health costs. The use of gastric function testing improves patient selection for UGIE endoscopy.

Demographic, hematologic, and endoscopic differences between predominant corporeal and antral atrophic gastritis: A STROBE-Compliant study

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to assess demographic, clinical, and endoscopic parameters in patients with predominant corporeal atrophic gastritis (CAG) and enterochromaffin-like cell hyperplasia suggestive for autoimmune etiology in comparison with patients presenting Helicobacter pylori atrophic gastritis limited to the gastric antrum (AAG).Demographical, clinical, and pathological data of consecutive patients who underwent an upper digestive endoscopy for bleeding screening risk, symptoms, or anemia in a single endoscopy unit were retrieved. The final study group included 63 patients with CAG and enterochromaffin-like cell hyperplasia on histology and a control group of 142 patients with AAG.Female patients were predominant in the group with CAG versus AAG (69.8% vs 46.4%, P = .002). Microcytic anemia (P < .001), but not macrocytic anemia (P = .14) was associated with CAG, the mean corpuscular volume of erythrocyte (MCV) (82.5 vs 86.5 fl, P = .01), the mean value of serum iron (11.8 vs 14.3 μmol/L, P = .02), and hemoglobin level (11.0 vs 12.7 g/dL P < .01) being significantly lower in patients with CAG versus AAG. Upper digestive endoscopies with no visible mucosal lesions (P = .01) were also more frequent in the patients with CAG, but there were not differences regarding digestive symptoms between groups. The linear regression models revealed that the low hemoglobin (P < .001) and low MCV (P = .03) are the independent variables that can predict CAG on histology, but not the serum iron level (P = .77)Consecutive patients investigated on endoscopy with CAG in comparison with those having AAG are more frequent female, they have microcytic anemia, and no mucosal lesions on endoscopy. The decreased hemoglobin level and low MCV, rather than the serum iron level are predictors for CAG versus AAG on histology in endoscopic population.

[The radiological examination of the detailed relief pattern of the stomach part 4 (direct comparison of the pattern in the pyloric canal with the histological findings as related to the problem of chronic gastritis) (author's transl)]

Following earlier work on the relationship between the micromucosal pattern of the stomach and chronic gastritis, a comparison was carried out between the appearances in the pyloric canal and the histological findings in that area. The presence of chronic gastritis could not be excluded, irrespective of the type of relief pattern. Normal gastric mucosa was only found in areas showing medium sized areae gastricae. Fundamental problems concerning the radiological technique are discussed as well as the evidence for the diagnosis of chronic gastritis.

Mucosal patterns change after Helicobacter pylori eradication: Evaluation using blue laser imaging in patients with atrophic gastritis

BACKGROUND

Mucosal patterns (MPs) observed on blue laser imaging in patients with atrophic gastritis can be classified as spotty, cracked, and mottled. Furthermore, we hypothesized that the spotty pattern may change to the cracked pattern after Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication.

AIM

To further substantiate and comprehensively investigate MP changes after H. pylori eradication in a larger number of patients.

METHODS

We included 768 patients who were diagnosed with atrophic gastritis with evaluable MP using upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at the Nishikawa Gas-trointestinal Clinic, Japan. Among them, 325 patients were H. pylori-positive, and of them, 101 patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy before and after H. pylori eradication were evaluated for post-eradication MP changes. The patients’ MPs were interpreted by three experienced endoscopists who were blinded to their clinical features.

RESULTS

Among 76 patients with the spotty pattern before or after H. pylori eradication, the pattern disappeared or decreased in 67 patients [88.2%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 79.0%-93.6%), appeared or increased in 8 patients (10.5%, 95%CI: 5.4%-19.4%), and showed no change in 1 patient (1.3%, 95%CI: 0.2%-7.1%). In 90 patients with the cracked pattern before or after H. pylori eradication, the pattern disappeared or decreased in 7 patients (7.8%, 95%CI: 3.8%-15.2%), appeared or increased in 79 patients (87.8%, 95%CI: 79.4%-93.0%), and showed no change in 4 patients (4.4%, 95%CI: 1.7%-10.9%). In 70 patients with the mottled pattern before or after H. pylori eradication, the pattern disappeared or decreased in 28 patients (40.0%, 95%CI: 29.3%-51.7%), appeared or increased in 35 patients (50.0%, 95%CI: 38.6%-61.4%), and showed no change in 7 patients (10.0%, 95%CI: 4.9%-19.2%).

CONCLUSION

After H. pylori eradication, MPs changed from spotty to cracked in most patients, which may help endoscopists easily and precisely evaluate H. pylori-related gastritis status.

An Evaluation of Endoscopic Images from Over 15 Years Prior to the Diagnosis of Autoimmune Gastritis: A Report of Three Patients

We herein describe three patients whose endoscopic images from over 15 years prior to their diagnosis of autoimmune gastritis (AIG) were available for review. All patients had corpus-dominant atrophic gastritis at the time of the diagnosis of AIG. Previous endoscopic images without severe atrophy showed erythema restricted to the fundic mucosa. These findings are suggestive of ongoing gastritis in patients with AIG. Initial endoscopy in Patient 2 showed multiple hyperplastic polyps that decreased in size and number over the course of 15 years. In this patient, circular wrinkle-like patterns and remnant oxyntic mucosa were visible after the atrophy had become quite prominent.

[Improved x-ray diagnosis of stomach by progress in the development of contrast media and examination techniques (author's transl)]

Three factors have been responsible for the advances during the past few years in x-ray examination of the stomach: Improvement of the contrast media used; introduction of the rare-earth foils; and examination techniques imaging all sections of the stomach and of the duodenal bulb under hypotension in double-contrast technique, in complete filling, and imaging the accessible sections by means of proper compression. An interesting technique employs a combination of two different barium sulphate suspension used at the same time, e.g. Bubbly Barium or some other barium sulphate preparation with a small amount of High-Density Barium yielding excellent image of the gastric mucosa (technique with two contrast media).

[A method of studying microcirculation in the gastric and duodenal walls]

The paper is concerned with the results of clinical application of a new method of investigation of microcirculation in the gastric and duodenal wall. The method is based on the administration of a radiopharmaceutical in the submucous layer of the stomach and duodenum through the bioptic channel of a gastroscope with further recording of its rate of discharge on a gamma-chamber. A total of 48 patients with different gastroduodenal diseases were investigated. Good reproducibility of the method and good correlation of its results with clinical findings were confirmed.