Clinical evaluation of serum pepsinogen in diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma

Objective To explore the clinical significance of serum pepsinogen(PG) in diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma. Methods The serum concentrations of PG I and PG II in 20 cases of superficial gastritis, 20 cases of atrophic gastritis, 20 cases of gastric ulcer, and 68 cases of gastric cancer were detected with latex enhanced immunoturbidimetric assay, and PG ratio(PGR) was subsequently calculated. Results The serum PG I level and PGR in gastric adenocarcinoma group were significantly lower than those in superficial gastritis, atrophic gastritis, or gastric ulcer group(P0.05). The serum PG I concentration in gastric ulcer group was significantly higher than that in superficial gastritis, atrophic gastritis, or gastric adenocarcinoma group(P 0.05). The PG I level and PGR decreased significantly in atrophic gastritis group compared to superficial gastritis and gastric ulcer groups(P0.05). But for PG II, there was no statistical difference in patients of four groups(P0.05). In addition, ROC curves analysis revealed PG I and PGR with an area under curve(AUC) of 0.961 and 0.963, respectively. There was certain correlation between PGR and differentiation of gastric adenocarcinoma. Conclusions Serum PG I concentration and PGR were remarkably valuable for diagnosis of the gastric adenocarcinoma.