Significance of a novel sucrose permeability test using serum in the diagnosis of early gastric cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the usefulness of sucrose permeability test using serum in the diagnosis of gastric diseases, with special reference to early gastric cancer (EGC).


METHODS
A total of 63 subjects, including 11 patients with gastric ulcer, 20 patients with gastric cancer (13, early; 7, advanced) and 32 healthy controls, were studied. Blood and urine samples were collected repeatedly for 5 h before and after the sucrose loading. Sucrose levels were measured by a newly developed enzymatic method.


RESULTS
Serum sucrose levels started to increase 15 min after loading, and peaked at 60 min in the gastric disease groups. The levels for gastric ulcer, EGC and advanced gastric cancer (AGC) at 60 min were significantly higher than that in the healthy controls (26.9+/-2.4, 34.4+/-5.0, and 71.8+/-15.6 vs 7.9+/-0.7 mol/L, respectively, P<0.01). The cut-off level set at 15.4 mol/L (60 min) offered the best distinction between EGC patients and healthy controls; and the sensitivity and specificity were 92.3% and 93.8%, respectively, while those of the urine method were 76.9% and 93.8%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The gastric permeability test using serum is reliable for the detection of EGC, and this test can provide results much earlier than the conventional urine method. This test may offer a useful alternative to more invasive tests for EGC.
Shishido
Tadayuki
T
Department of Medicine and Clinical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba-city, Chiba 260-8677, Japan.
Yamaguchi
Taketo
T
Odaka
Takeo
T
Seimiya
Masanori
M
Saisho
Hiromitsu
H
Nomura
Fumio
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010539:Permeability; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D044967:Serum / Q000737:chemistry*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D013395:Sucrose / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine
D013395:Sucrose