NONNEOPLASTIC CHANGES IN GASTRIC ANTRUM - ARE THEY DIFFERENT IN DISTALLY LOCATED INTESTINAL AND DIFFUSE-TYPE GASTRIC ADENOCARCINOMA

A total of 126 cases of primary adenocarcinoma of distal (antrum and/o r adjacent body) stomach were reviewed, These cases were collected fro nt the histopathology laboratory of Asir Central Hospital, Southwester n Saudi Arabia over an 8 year period (1987-94), Only gastrectomy speci mens with non-neoplastic antral mucosa available for histological exam ination were included, Of 126 cases, 85 (67.5%) were of the intestinal type and 41 (32.5%) were of the diffuse type, Histological examinatio n of the non-neoplastic antral mucosa showed: gastritis in 100% of the se cases; Helicobacter pylori in 103/126 cases (81.8%); multifocal atr ophic gastritis (MAG) in 53/126 cases (42.1%); intestinal metaplasia ( IM) in 62/126 (49.2%); and type III intestinal metaplasia in 30/62 cas es (47.7%), None of these non-neoplastic changes of antral mucosa was significantly different when the prevalence of these changes in intest inal and diffuse type gastric adenocarcinoma were compared using the c hi(2) test, The prevalence of these non-neoplastic lesions were calcul ated in a 126 dyspeptic age- and sex-matched control patients and were as follows: H. pylori 91%; gastritis 78%; MAG 7.4%; IM 19% and type I II IM 1.6%. The prevalence of H. pylori bacilli and gastritis was not significantly different between the cancer patients and the controls, The prevalence of MAG, IM and type III IM was significantly higher amo ng cancer patients compared with the control group.