Serum Pepsinogen,Gastrin-17 and Chronic Atrophic Gastritis

Background:Currently the diagnosis of chronic atrophic gastritis is mainly made by endoscopy and histopathology.In recent years determination of serum pepsinogen(PG) and gastrin-17(G-17) are used for screening of chronic atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer in Japan,Norway and Finland.Aims:To investigate the changes of serum PGⅠ,PGⅠ/PGⅡ ratio(PGR) and G-17 in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis.Methods:Two hundred and ninety-six patients underwent endoscopy from May 2005 to May 2007 were recruited according to the inclusion criteria at Beijing Friendship Hospital.These patients were divided into three groups by histopathologic diagnosis:control group(n=42),chronic non-atrophic gastritis group(n=148) and chronic atrophic gastritis group(n=106).Serum levels of PGⅠ,PGⅡ and G-17 were assayed by radioimmunoassay.Results:Serum level of PGⅠ and PGR value decreased and serum G-17 level increased significantly in chronic atrophic gastritis group as compared with those in the controls(P0.05).Accompanied by aggravation of gastric atrophy,serum level of PGⅠ and PGR value decreased gradually in atrophic corpus gastritis and multifocal atrophic gastritis(P0.01),and serum level of G-17 decreased gradually in atrophic antral gastritis(P0.01).Conclusions:Detection of serum PG and G-17 levels can be used in the screening of chronic atrophic gastritis.If abnormal,endoscopy should be performed to make final diagnosis and guide the treatment.