title: Usefulness of serum pepsinogen levels as a screening test for atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of our study was to research the applicability of measuring serum pepsinogen I (PG I) and PG I/pepsinogen II (PG II) ratios as screening tests for atrophic gastritis, which is the most important predisposition for stomach cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured serum pepsinogen levels in non-specific gastritis, atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer using a radioimmunoassay method. We included in this study 30 healthy control, 30 nonspecific gastritis, 30 atrophic gastritis and 50 gastric cancer cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The serum PG I level was statistically higher in the control group and in the patient group with chronic nonspecific gastritis compared to the patient groups with chronic atrophic gastritis and stomach cancer (p<0.05). The best cutoff values for diagnosing stomach cancer using serum PG I and PG I / PG II ratios were found to be <25 ng/ml for PG I and <3.0 for PG I / PG II. The same cut-off values were also most effective for the patients with atrophic gastritis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum pepsinogen screening was shown to be a practical predictor of stomach cancer and atrophic gastritis, the most important predisposing lesion for stomach cancer. Although the diagnosis of stomach cancers localized in the pylorus and cardia via this method is difficult, we believe that the detection of early-stage cancers that develop following chronic atrophic gastritis in particular will be possible, and therefore the morbidity and mortality of stomach cancer will be decreased.
authors.affiliation: Ataturk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Turkey.
authors.forename: Metin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agkoc
authors.affiliation: Ataturk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dursun
authors.affiliation: Ataturk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Albayrak
authors.affiliation: Ataturk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Turkey.
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.affiliation: Ataturk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kiziltunc
authors.affiliation: Ataturk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Turkey.
authors.forename: Arif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.affiliation: Ataturk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cemal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gundogdu
keywords: Gastritis; Pepsinogen; Stomach cancer