Korean J Gastroenterol.  2002 Jul;40(1):15-22.

Frequency and Associating Factors of Intestinal Metaplasia of Gastroesophageal Junction in Patients with Upper Gastrointestinal Symptoms

• Lee WJ
• Lee JS
• Kim KA
• Lee HR
• Baik HW
• Jeon YB
• Lee JW
• Kim YS
• Woo GH
• Moon JS
• Youn SJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: As the incidence of adenocarcinoma at the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) is incresing in the Western countries, intestinal metaplasia (IM) at GEJ becomes an interesting topic. The aim of this study was to identify the frequency and clinical, endoscopic, and histological findings of IM at GEJ in Korean population.
METHODS
Patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms were enrolled into the study. History taking and esophagogastroduodenoscopy were performed. Endoscopic biopsy specimens from the distal esophagus, antrum, corpus, and GEJ were evaluated for inflammation, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, and IM.
RESULTS
The study population comprised 95 male and 120 female patients and the mean age was 41.6 years (range 17-83). Twenty-four patients (11.5%) had intestinal metaplasia at GEJ. The presence of IM at GEJ was not significantly correlated with gender, body mass index, smoking, alcohol intake, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms, presence of hiatal hernia, and the H. pylori infection. IM at GEJ was significantly associated with old age, presence of antral atrophy and IM, presence of corpus inflammation, atrophy and IM. In the multivariate analysis, age was the only significantly associated factor.
CONCLUSIONS
In Korea, IM at GEJ is observed more frequently in the elderly. There is no correlation between the presence of IM at GEJ and the symptoms of GERD or H. pylori infection.

Keyword

Gastroesophageal junction; Intestinal metaplasia; Helicobacter pylori infection; Gastroesophageal reflux disease

MeSH Terms

Adenocarcinoma
Aged
Atrophy
Biopsy
Body Mass Index
Endoscopy, Digestive System
Esophagogastric Junction*
Esophagus
Female
Gastroesophageal Reflux
Helicobacter pylori
Hernia, Hiatal
Humans
Incidence
Inflammation
Korea
Male
Metaplasia*
Multivariate Analysis
Smoke
Smoking
Smoke