Intestinal metaplasia of the esophagus or esophagogastric junction: evidence of distinct clinical, pathologic, and histochemical staining features.

Our purpose was to evaluate the clinical, histologic, and histochemical staining characteristics of intestinal metaplasia (IM) at an endoscopically normal-appearing esophagogastric junction (IM-EGJ) compared with IM in a columnar-lined esophagus (IM-CLE). A prospective study included 253 patients referred for elective upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Biopsy specimens were obtained from 2 cm above and immediately distal to the squamocolumnar junction, the gastric corpus, and the antrum.