Histological Features of Gastric Mucosa Serologically Diagnosed as Gastric Atrophy without Helicobacter pylori Infection

Abstract

Background/Aims: Although gastric atrophy is primarily caused by Helicobacter pylori infection, it is unclear why patients serologically diagnosed with gastric atrophy without H. pylori infection exhibit greater atrophy. We investigated histopathological features in serologically diagnosed gastric atrophy without H. pylori infection. Methods: Thirty-four patients with positive serum pepsinogen and negative serum H. pylori antibody tests underwent gastric biopsy and histological evaluation. The presence of enterochromaffin-like cells (ECL) was also evaluated. Gastric cancer risks for each histological feature according to the Operative Link on Gastritis Assessment (OLGA) and Operative Link on Gastric Intestinal Metaplasia (OLGIM) were assessed. Results: Twenty-five (74%) patients had histological gastric atrophy. Among those, the following histological subgroups were identified: eight had H. pylori but no ECL, 13 had neither H. pylori nor ECL, and 4 had ECL without H. pylori. Nine patients without histological atrophy had neither H. pylori nor ECL. Patients with H. pylori on histological diagnosis had significantly higher scores on OLGA and OLGIM. Conclusions: Various histological features, with significant differences in gastric cancer risk, were identified in the gastric mucosa serologically diagnosed with atrophy without H. pylori infection. Therefore, serological screening for gastric cancer risk tests has several limitations, and additional evaluations should be considered.