Operative Link for Gastritis Assessment gastritis staging incorporates intestinal metaplasia subtyping

Both sulfomucin-type intestinal metaplasia (ie, types II and III intestinal metaplasia, colonic-type intestinal metaplasia) and gastritis in Operative Link for Gastritis Assessment stages III and IV are associated with an increased risk of intestinal-type gastric cancer. This study aimed to verify the hypothesis that gastritis in Operative Link for Gastritis Assessment stages III and IV (both consistently associated with an increased cancer risk) is associated per se with types II and III intestinal metaplasia. Two hundred consecutive cases of atrophic gastritis (Operative Link for Gastritis Assessment stages I, II, III, and IV) were considered (50 cases for each stage). All cases were stained with high iron diamine, and intestinal metaplasia was subtyped accordingly (type I [ie, small-intestinal type] and types II and III). Helicobacter pylori status was also considered, distinguishing H pylori-positive versus H pylori-negative versus H pylori-eradicated patients. A significant association was found between intestinal metaplasia subtype and the Operative Link for Gastritis Assessment stage of gastritis (the higher the stage, the more the colonic-type of intestinal metaplasia, and vice versa; Wilcoxon, P = .001). The strength of the association between Operative Link for Gastritis Assessment stages and the 3 intestinal metaplasia subtypes was confirmed by logistic regression analysis (P < .001; odds ratio, 4.84; 95% confidence interval, 2.97-7.88). Intestinal metaplasia subtyping also correlated with the patient's age (Kruskal-Wallis, P = .001) and H pylori status (Fisher exact, P < .001). Operative Link for Gastritis Assessment staging incorporates the prognostic message obtainable from histochemical gastric mucin subtyping.