Cancer detection in biopsy specimens taken from different types of gastric lesions

From January 1974 to October 1983, 5072 gastroscopies were performed in 3351 patients with a total of 14,554 biopsy specimens taken from 2565 lesions in the stomach. The endoscopic diagnoses and their histologic counterparts were recorded and the diagnostic yield of specimens from each type of lesion analyzed. Gastric adenocarcinoma was finally diagnosed in 139 patients. The diagnosis was delayed, from 1 to 4 months, in five patients because of false-negative diagnoses. These patients all had ulcerating cancers. Moreover, early gastric cancer was mainly of the ulcerating type. Accordingly, an ulcer lesion is the most important one to biopsy. Only four cancers were found in 959 benign-appearing gastritic lesions. Twenty-one patients with negative biopsy results at the first endoscopy were later shown to have cancer. When these biopsy specimens were re-examined, malignant lymphoma was found in one and adenocarcinoma in three cases. In spite of false-negative endoscopic findings, nonrepresentative biopsy material and false-negative histologic reports, the combination of biopsy results and clinical judgement led to correct and timely treatment in nearly all patients.