J. Wayman et al., Prescription of proton pump inhibitors before endoscopy - A potential cause of missed diagnosis of early gastric cancers, ARCH FAM M, 9(4), 2000, pp. 385-388
Background: Early gastric cancer is frequently seen with nonspecific dyspep
tic symptoms and subtle endoscopic features. Treatment at this stage of the
disease produces a high chance of cure. If the diagnosis is missed at this
early stage, then the prognosis may be much poorer depending on the subseq
uent delay in reaching a diagnosis.
Objectives: To report the healing effect of proton pump inhibitors on early
gastric cancer.
Methods: This article reports a case series of 7 patients with ulcerated ea
rly gastric cancers indistinguishable as malignant gastric ulcers at endosc
opy who were inadvertently prescribed a short course of a proton pump inhib
itor prior to a second confirmatory endoscopy. The cases studied were patie
nts with dyspeptic symp toms referred from primary care physicians for uppe
r gastrointestinal endoscopy.
Results: In each case the patient became asymptomatic, the endoscopic signs
seen at the first endoscopy had resolved, and the lesions could not be rec
ognized even by an experienced endoscopist. If the proton pump inhibitors h
ad been prescribed by the referring physician before the first endoscopy, t
he diagnosis probably would have been missed. These cases demonstrate the p
otentially serious masking effect of prescribing a short course of these dr
ugs before making an endoscopic diagnosis. Even though the patient has been
referred for endoscopy, the endoscopist may fail to identify the lesion an
d thus miss the diagnosis.
Conclusions: Primary care physicians must resist the pressures to prescribe
proton pump inhibitors before endoscopy, particularly in patients older th
an 45 years, if the diagnostic yield of gastric cancer in the early curable
stages is to be maximized.