Will atrophic gastritis develop into gastric cancer?

Many patients feel uneasy when they receive a diagnosis of "chronic atrophic gastritis" because they believe that chronic atrophic gastritis will sooner or later develop into gastric cancer, which is equivalent to being sentenced to "death penalty."

As the saying goes, a frozen three-foot-thick ice does not form overnight, and the occurrence of gastric cancer is also not a matter of one day, but a gradual process. Chronic atrophic gastritis, gastric ulcer, gastric polyp, residual stomach after surgery, pernicious anemia and giant gastric mucosal hypertrophy are all "precancerous diseases" of gastric cancer. These precancerous diseases will significantly increase the risk of gastric cancer, and chronic atrophic gastritis is more common than other precancerous diseases.

Most patients with atrophic gastritis can be transformed into superficial gastritis or maintain the status quo after reasonable and systematic treatment, but a small number of patients with severe atrophic gastritis may further develop abnormal hyperplasia of the intestinal epithelium and cancer, which is mainly seen in patients with moderate or above atypical hyperplasia and intestinal metaplasia, and the canceration rate is related to the length and severity of their medical history. The probability of mild and moderate chronic atrophic gastritis turning into gastric cancer is not high.

Therefore, patients with severe chronic atrophic gastritis accompanied by intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia must take strict precautions. First, they should have regular physical examinations, especially gastroscopy, generally once a year, and once every six months for severe cases; secondly, they should strengthen the treatment of the disease itself.