Endoscopic screening for premalignant changes 25 years after gastrectomy: results of a five-year prospective study

Sixty-three partial gastrectomy patients an average 20 years after surgery were reviewed by endoscopy and biopsy in 1977. No cases of invasive carcinoma were found. The patients were then divided into two groups. Those with moderate epithelial dysplasia (13 patients) were reviewed at 6-12 monthly intervals. One patient developed severe dysplasia but none developed an invasive carcinoma. The remaining patients with either no or mild dysplasia were offered endoscopy after 5 years and 24 agreed. Of the 12 patients with no dysplasia at the outset: 5 still had no dysplasia 5 years later, 3 had mild dysplasia and 4 now had moderate dysplasia. There were 12 with mild dysplasia at the first endoscopy, 9 remained unchanged at the review and 3 had moderate dysplasia. If dysplastic changes in gastric mucosa are pre-malignant, progression to invasive carcinoma would appear to be slow. Even 25 years after gastrectomy only a modest deterioration in the grade of dysplasia was found and no invasive cancer.