Public Library of Science, PLoS ONE, 10(6), p. e26957, 2011
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026957
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Background: To establish optimal cutoff values for serologic diagnosis of fundic atrophy in a high-risk area for oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma and gastric cancer with high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in Northern Iran, we performed an endoscopy-room-based validation study. Methods: We measured serum pepsinogens I (PGI) and II (PGII), gastrin 17 (G-17), and antibodies against whole H. pylori, or cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA) antigen among 309 consecutive patients in two major endoscopy clinics in northeastern Iran. Updated Sydney System was used as histology gold standard. Areas under curves (AUCs), optimal cutoff and predictive values were calculated for serum biomarkers against the histology. Results: 309 persons were recruited (mean age: 63.5 years old, 59.5 female). 84.5 were H. pylori positive and 77.5 were CagA positive. 21 fundic atrophy and 101 nonatrophic pangastritis were diagnosed. The best cutoff values in fundic atrophy assessment were calculated at PGI40 pmol/l was 81 sensitive and 73.3 specific for diagnosing fundic atrophy. At cutoff concentration of 11.8 μg/l, PGII showed 84.2 sensitivity and 45.4 specificity to distinguish nonatrophic pangastritis. Exclusion of nonatrophic pangastritis enhanced diagnostic ability of PGI/PGII ratio (from AUC = 0.66 to 0.90) but did not affect AUC of PGI. After restricting study samples to those with PGII