Significance of Helicobacter Pylori Infection and Pepsinogen Levels on the Prognosis of Atrophic Gastritis - Observational Study

According to the Correa's hypothesis, the combination method using serum pepsinogen levels and serum Helicobacter pylori antibody would predict the risk and cell type of gastric neoplasm. However, in endemic regions of H. pylori infection such as in East Asian countries (Korea, Japan, and China), most of the aged population are have current or had past H. pylori infection. Therefore, in this study, we are going to uncover whether the risk of gastric neoplasm is significantly higher in the atrophy(+)/H. pylori(-) group followed by atrophy(+)/H. pylori(+), atrophy(-)/H. pylori(+), and atrophy(-)/H. pylori(-) groups. In addition, we are going to investigate whether those slow-growing gastric neoplasms such as differentiated gastric cancers with Lauren's intestinal type and gastric adenoma are more commonly developed in atrophy group following the Correa's hypothesis, whereas rapid-growing gastric neoplasms such as poorly-cohesive carcinoma or undifferentiated gastric cancers with Lauren's diffuse type are more commonly developed in the subjects without atrophy. Taken as a whole, our study result will provide an evidence whether this biomarker strategy are useful for the detection of individuals at increased risk of gastric neoplasm.