Clinicopathological features of advanced gastric cancer discovered after Helicobacter pylori eradication
Helicobacter pylori infection is closely associated with gastric cancer, and its eradication is expected to prevent gastric cancer. However, gastric cancer is often detected discovered after eradication therapy for H. pylori infection. We aimed to investigate the endoscopic and clinical features of advanced gastric cancer after H. pylori eradication. We retrospectively investigated tumor location, macroscopic and histological type, endoscopic gastric mucosal atrophy (using the Kimura-Takemoto classification), and the interval between eradication and detection of gastric cancer. Nine patients (five males; mean age, 65.3 years [range, 44-79 years]), histologically diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer after successful H. pylori eradication between April 2003 and December 2018, were enrolled in this study. In all cases, the cancer was located in the middle-to-upper portion of the stomach. With respect to macroscopic type, six cases were ulcerative, two were scirrhous, and one was polypoid. Histologically, all cancers were poorly or moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas. Endoscopic mucosal atrophy was mild in two cases, moderate in two cases, and severe in five cases. Two cases of scirrhous tumors developed from mild mucosal atrophy. Moreover, the tumor was detected within 36 months after H. pylori eradication in six patients (maximum: 120 months, mean: 38.7 months). Our data demonstrated that post-eradicated advanced gastric cancers were located in the middle-to-upper portion of the stomach and were mainly ulcerative, poorly or moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. More than half of the patients exhibited severe mucosal atrophy. Notably, advanced gastric cancer of the scirrhous type may develop from mild mucosal atrophy.
