Abstract
We assessed whether serum levels of pepsinogen (PG) measured after eradication of H. pylori could be a marker of gastric atrophy before eradication. Serum levels of PG I/II and anti-H. pylori IgG antibody were measured before and after eradication of H. pylori in a total of 193 patients who underwent gastroscopy. Gastric atrophy was evaluated according to the Kimura-Takemoto classification. When subjects were classified by the results of the PG method, PG I and PG I/II ratios after eradication could distinguish the PG method-positives from negatives. When the cut of 36.5 ng/ml was used, the validity for the estimation of positive or negative for PG method was 74.2%. This criterion correlated well with the gastric atrophy based on Kimura-Takemoto classification. Therefore, serum PGs measured after eradication of H. pylori could reflect gastric atrophy before eradication.
