Serum Pepsinogens in Patients with Gastric Diseases or after Gastric Surgery

Abstract

Biemond I, Kreuning J, Jansen JBMJ, Lamers CBHW. Serum pepsinogens in patients with gastric diseases or after gastric surgery. Scand J Gastroenterol 1994;29:238-242.

As no comparative study is available on the categorized serum pepsinogen A and C concentrations, we have measured serum pepsinogens in patients with gastric diseases and after gastric surgery. Hyperpepsinogenemia A (>120ug/l) occurred frequently in patients with the Zollinger-EUison syndrome (71%) and hypertrophic gastropathy (100%), whereas hypopepsinogenemia A (<17 μg/1) was found mostly in patients with achlorhydria (87%) and after total gastrectomy (100%). Patients with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome frequently (58%) had hyperpepsinogenemia C (>40 μg/l), which was also the case in all patients with hypertrophic gastropathy who had in addition a low pepsinogen A.C ratio (<1.6). Patients with achlorhydria, hypertrophic gastropathy, or after total gastrectomy fell into an aberrant category. From this study we conclude that measurement of serum pepsinogen A and C and calculation of their ratio yield information useful for differentiation of gastric abnormalities.

Key Words:

• Gastric disease
• gastric surgery
• pepsinogen