MATERIAL AND METHODS
A total of 214 patients, who were indicated for combined gastroscopy and colonoscopy with various prediagnoses between August 2016 and April 2020, were included in this retrospective study. Informed consent forms were obtained from the patients prior to the procedure. Gastroscopic, histopathologic and demographic data of the patients were analyzed and noted down. Patients were separated into two groups according to their endoscopic biopsy results as IM positive and IM negative. Additionally, two groups were created according to the presence of H. pylori infection. The association between gastric intestinal metaplasia and H. pylori infection was evaluated. Patients with colon and gastric surgery histories, patients who were administered eradication therapy for H. pylori, patients who underwent previous polypectomies, patients with inflammatory bowel disease and patients with missing data were excluded from the study. The patients were fully sedated under the supervision of an anesthesiologist and were applied upper and lower endoscopy procedures by a single experienced endoscopist after a minimum of 8 hours of fasting. The absence of abnormal appearance in the examinations was accepted as normal gastroscopic and colonoscopic examination, and biopsies were not taken. Biopsies were taken from patients whose endoscopic examination was suggestive of IM and from suspicious and abnormal lesions. Gastroscopy and colonoscopy procedures were performed with EG-600WR gastroscope and EC-600WL colonoscope (Fujinon, Tokyo, Japan), respectively. This study was approved by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee at Health Sciences University Diyarbakır Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital.
Statistical analysis: All statistical analyses were performed with the Statistical Package (SPSS) 21.0 software. To evaluate the significance of the difference between the two groups, categorical variables were compared with the Pearson chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test, and continuous variables were compared using Student’s t-test. Two tailed p<0.05 value was accepted as statistically significant.