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Updated: May 23, 2026
Mouse Models Of Helicobacter Infection And Gastric Pathologies
Published on: October 18, 2018
Autoimmune gastritis: histology phenotype and OLGA staging
1Department of Medicine, University of Padua, PD, Italy. massimo.rugge@unipd.it
Background:
Among Western populations, the declining incidence of Helicobacter pylori infection coincides with a growing clinical impact of autoimmune gastritis.
Aims:
To describe the histological phenotype of autoimmune gastritis, also to test the prognostic impact of OLGA staging in the autoimmune setting.
Methods:
A single-institutional series (spanning the years 2003-2011) of 562 consecutive patients (M:F ratio: 1:3.7; mean age = 57.6 ± 14.4 years) with serologically confirmed autoimmune gastritis underwent histology review and OLGA staging.
Results:
Helicobacter pylori infection was ascertained histologically in 44/562 cases (7.8%). Forty six biopsy sets (8.2%) featured OLGA stages III-IV; they included all four cases of incidental epithelial neoplasia (three intraepithelial and one invasive; three of these four cases had concomitant H. pylori infection). There were 230 (40.9%) and 139 (24.7%) cases, respectively, of linear and micro-nodular enterochromaffin-like cell hyperplasia; 19 (3.4%) type I carcinoids were detected. The series included 116 patients who underwent repeated endoscopy/biopsy sampling (mean time elapsing between the two procedures = 54 months; range 24-108). Paired histology showed a significant (P = 0.009) trend towards a stage progression [the stage increased in 25/116 cases (22%); it remained unchanged in 87/116 cases (75%)].
Conclusions:
In autoimmune gastritis, the cancer risk is restricted to high-risk gastritis stages (III-IV), and is associated mainly with concomitant H. pylori infection. OLGA staging consistently depicts the time-dependent organic progression of the autoimmune disease and provides key information for secondary gastric cancer prevention strategies.
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