Helicobacter pylori infection and early gastric cancer

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori has recently been associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. This study aimed to examine the association between H. pylori, histologic chronic gastritis, and intestinal metaplasia in early gastric cancers of different histologic types. STUDY: Seventy-four patients who were surgically diagnosed as having early gastric cancer were included in this study. All tissue specimens were obtained from patients by endoscopic biopsy and were classified histopathologically as intestinal-type early gastric cancer in 55 patients and diffuse-type early gastric cancer in 19 patients. RESULTS: H. pylori infection was found in 67 patients (90.5%) but not found in seven (9.5%). And the prevalence of H. pylori infection with nongastric cancer patients was also high (68.5%). There was no significant difference between the intestinal-type and the diffuse-type early gastric cancer in chronic active gastritis and atrophic chronic gastritis. Intestinal metaplasia was observed more frequently in patients with the intestinal-type than with the diffuse-type early gastric cancer (P = 0.0102). CONCLUSIONS: Infection with H. pylori has an important relationship to both histopathologic types of early gastric cancer.