The predictive value of alarm features for upper gastrointestinal malignancy: a single-center retrospective study / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine the diagnostic accuracy of alarm features in predicting upper gastro intestinal malignancy in patients who received gastroscopy examination.Methods A retrospective analysis of patients who underwent gastroscopy from Oct 2014 to Oct 2015 was conducted.Biopsy or surgical pathological findings served as the golden standard.The main outcome measure was the diagnostic accuracy of alarm features.Results Among 921 gastrointestinal outpatients,39 patients (4.2％) with malignancy were detected,including 13 (33.3％) with esophageal cancer,24 (61.5％) with gastric cancer and 2(5.1％) with duodenal ampulla cancer.36 patients (92.3％) were found with advanced cancer.In 137patients who had alarm features,21 (15.3％) were found to have malignancy and all were advanced.The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of alarm features were 53.8％(21/39),86.8％ (766/882),15.3％ (21/137) and 97.7％ (766/784),respectively.Conclusions Alarm features have a definite but limited value in predicting upper gastrointestinal malignancy.Noninvasive screening methods for Chinese patients are still needed to reduce unnecessary endoscopy workload.