Gastritis & Associated Diseases

Gastritis is an inflammation of the stomach often caused by infection by Helicobacter pylori or medication (aspirin or NSAIDs) - for more definitions goto the Other sites page. Atrophic gastritis is a chronic inflammation of the stomach, accompanied by atrophy of the stomach mucosa and destruction of the peptic glands. This change can sometimes lead to cancer - for more definitions go to the Other sites page. The key to risk assessment is to first identify the type of gastritis present.

A) Non-atrophic Gastritis (No atrophy)
Patients are prone to peptic ulcer and have a mild increase in the risk of gastric cancer.

B) Severe Atrophic Gastritis (Corpus area)
The risk for peptic ulceration is low but there is a risk 5 times greater than that of a normal subject of contracting gastric cancer. 
 
C) Severe Atrophic Gastritis (Antrum area)
Patients exhibiting this type of gastritis have a higher risk of both peptic ulcer and gastric cancer.

D) Severe Atrophic Pangastritis
Patients exhibiting this profile whilst having a low risk of peptic ulceration are approximately 90 times more likely to contract gastric cancer than a normal subject (1). 

References

1. Sipponen P., Kekki M., Haapakoski J., Ihamäki T., Siurala M. (1985). Gastric Cancer Risk in Chronic Atrophic Gastritis: Statistical Calculations of Cross Sectional Data. Int. J. Cancer. 35:173-177.