Clinical and morphological characteristics of patients with chronic gastritis and high risk of gastric cancer

The purpose of this study is to conduct a clinical and morphological analysis of cases of chronic gastritis with a high risk of gastric cancer (GC). Materials and methods. The study included 26 cases of chronic atrophic gastritis of stages 3 and 4 with a high risk of developing GC according to the assessment using the OLGA system (Operative Link for Gastritis Assessment). The cases were diagnosed on material of gastric tissue biopsy in 2022. In total, 678 histological studies were performed during the year. Cases of chronic gastritis with a high risk of developing GC accounted for 3.8% of all chronic gastritis. Results. Cases of chronic gastritis with a high risk of developing GC were more often observed in older men (average age 67±12 years, ratio 2.25:1). Multifocal atrophic gastritis was in the first place in frequency of occurrence (61.5%), the connection with helicobacter infection was confirmed only in a third of cases (34.6%). Morphological changes were characterized by a predominant lesion of the antrum of the stomach and mixed complete and incomplete intestinal metaplasia. With the exception of one case in which pseudopancreatic metaplasia was detected in the antrum of the stomach, all cases of autoimmune gastritis (n=26) were assigned to stage 2 with a low risk of developing GC, which seems controversial to us. Conclusion. The results of our study showed a high percentage of pre-existing tumor lesions of the stomach in the group of chronic gastritis with a high risk of developing GC. Dysplasia was diagnosed in 5 out of 26 cases, GC with previously performed mucosectomy in 3 out of 26 cases. In addition, the patients had other tumor and precancerous lesions of the gastrointestinal tract. These data show the validity and practical value of using the OLGA system to identify high-risk groups for the development of tumors not only of the stomach, but also of gastrointestinal tumors of other localizations.