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.