Endoscopic diagnosis of gastric ulcer. Evaluation of the benefits of endoscopic follow-up observation for malignancy.

Examinations at an endoscopy unit in 1976 gave diagnoses of gastric cancer in 31 patients, malignant lymphoma in 3 and new benign gastric ulcer in 223 patients. Correctness of diagnosis was judged to be verified following surgery, autopsy, clinical follow-up or five-year survival. All the malignant lesions were macroscopically and/or microscopically recognized at the first examination, except for one that was then considered to be a submucosal or extragastric tumour, but was correctly diagnosed at surgery prompted by the endoscopic findings. Of the 223 benign ulcers, 219 received a correct diagnosis at the first examination. In the other four cases malignancy was macroscopically or microscopically suspected, but was excluded following surgical excision or repeat examination. Based on these data, the authors suggest that routine endoscopic follow-up of gastric ulcer to exclude malignancy is unnecessary if the primary examination has been performed by an experienced endoscopist, and if both the macroscopic and the microscopic (biopsy) judgement unreservedly are that the lesion is benign.