[Gastritis and stomach cancer--epidemiologic correlation]

This association between chronic gastritis and gastric carcinoma has been reasonably well established, however the nature of this association is still not clear and is probably very complex. Thus the intestinal type of carcinoma shows a higher prevalence and more rapid than expected progression of atrophic gastritis in the antrum and body, and the available evidence suggests that atrophic gastritis with metaplasia and dysplasia precedes the occurrence of signs of malignancy. In the diffuse type, however, no direct relationship can be demonstrated between gastritis and gastric carcinoma. On the other hand, the diffuse type of gastric carcinoma, too, shows some association with atrophic gastritis in that the histochemical characteristics of diffuse carcinoma cells are as a rule similar to those of the surrounding epithelium. Thus the intestinal type of gastric carcinoma seems to be directly and the diffuse type more likely only morphogenetically related to atrophic gastritis.