Assessing GastroPanel serum markers as a non-invasive method for the diagnosis of atrophic gastritis and Helicobacter pylori infection

Gastric colonization by Helicobacter pylori increases the risk of gastric disorders, including atrophic gastritis which can be diagnosed based on levels of serum biomarkers like Gastrin and Pepsinogen. We therefore examined the efficacy of a serological-based method namely GastroPanel Blood kit, in diagnosing and scoring gastritis associated to Helicobacter pylori infection. Patients with dyspeptic symptoms were prospectively recruited on voluntary basis at the Yaounde Central Hospital and University Teaching Hospital, from March to July 2011. The degree of atrophy was classified according to levels in patient serum of pepsinogens I and II (PGI and PGII) and Gastrin 17 (G17) and compared with histological profiles as reference method. A specific ELISA test was used for the detection of H. pylori IgG antibodies. In total, 86 volunteers from 21 to 83 years old (mean = 46.4 ± 3.3) were enrolled, including 74.4% of women and 25.6% of men. The prevalence of gastritis was statistically similar between Gastro Blood Panel test and histology used as reference method (89.5% versus 83.7%: p > 0.20). Diagnosis based on serum makers showed high sensitivity (93.1%) in comparison with the reference method. However, the serological based method has diagnosed more atrophic gastritis than the reference (17.4% versus 7.0%: p 0.05). Furthermore, the prevalence of H. pylori infection did not differ significantly between serological method (84.9%) and reference method (81.4%). These results suggest that diagnosis of atrophic gastritis and H. pylori infection obtained with an optional serological method (GastroPanel) is in a strong agreement with the biopsy findings, and thus can be a useful non endoscopic assessment of stomach mucosal atrophy in patients with dyspepsia.