Endoscopic findings in a biennial follow-up program in patients with pernicious anemia

It is known that patients with pernicious anemia have a higher risk of gastric neoplasms. However, the optimal endoscopic follow-up in these patients has not been properly defined. This study was aimed to assess the usefulness of an endoscopic follow-up program.

We analyzed the endoscopic and histological findings of the first endoscopy performed in a group of 128 patients with the diagnosis of pernicious anemia who were referred to the Endoscopic Unit, and we evaluated the results of the biannual follow-up endoscopies made to 68 of them.

The initial endoscopy did not provide evidence of any lesions in 107 patients (83.5%), and polypoid lesions were found in 12 cases (9.4%). The histological results showed gastric dysplasia in 3 patients (2.3%) and carcinoid tumor in 2 cases (1.6%). No cases of gastric carcinoma were found. During the endoscopic follow-up of 68 patients, in 52 of them (76.8%) there were no endoscopic findings, and raised lesions were detected in 8 patients (11.8%). Three cases of gastric dysplasia were found. No cases of gastric carcinoma or carcinoid were detected during the follow-up.

We suggest that a biannual endoscopic follow-up in not useful for the early detection of gastric neoplasms in patients with pernicious anemia.