Delayed diagnosis of autoimmune atrophic gastritis and its coping strategies / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Autoimmune atrophic gastritis (AAG) is a slowly progressive, immune‐mediated disorder with unspecific and subtle clinical manifestations. With the widespread use of endoscopy, especially the progression of early gastric cancer screening, it has increased awareness that AAG is a pre‐neoplastic condition, predisposing to the development of both type 1 neuroendocrine tumors and gastric adenocarcinoma. The diagnosis of AAG is based on distinctive endoscopic and histological features and serum intrinsic factor and/or parietal cell autoantibody positivity, which is challenging due to its wide clinical spectrum-ranging from a symptomless to a disabling disease course. This article summarizes the research progress of AAG in recent years, analyzes the reasons for delayed diagnosis of AAG, and proposes coping strategies.