Mucin histochemistry and questions in gastroenterology.

A group of modern mucosubstance histochemical techniques was employed on normal and pathological specimens obtained from the gastrointestinal tract of 2212 individuals. In the light of the results, five main problems in the filed of gastroenterology are discussed; namely: 1) The nature of intestinal metaplasia and histogenesis of adenocarcinoma of the stomach, 2) Early diagnosis of small intestinal carcinoma, 3) The so called transitional colonic mucosa, 4) The diagnosis of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and 5) Differential diagnosis of other carcinomas growing into the large bowel.