Gastric cancer: prevention, screening and early diagnosis.

Gastric cancer continues to be an important healthcare problem from a global perspective. Most of the cases in the Western world are diagnosed at late stages when the treatment is largely ineffective. Helicobacter pylori (H.

NS3 protease inhibitors for treatment of chronic hepatitis C: Efficacy and safety.

A new treatment paradigm for hepatitis C is that the treatment must include an existing direct-acting antiviral agent, namely, a protease inhibitor (PI) combined with PEGylated interferon-α and ribavirin. The currently marketed PIs and PIs in clinical trials have different mechanisms of action. The development of new PIs aims for an improved safety profile and higher effectiveness.

Invasive and non-invasive diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori-associated atrophic gastritis: a comparative study.

Objective: Helicobacter pylori-associated atrophic gastritis is known to be a significant risk factor for gastric cancer. Among the well-known parameters of atrophic gastritis are the levels of serum gastrin-17 (G-17) and pepsinogen I (PG1), which are biomarkers of gastric antral and corpus mucosal activity, respectively. The aim of study was to compare the production of G-17 and PG1 in patients with or without stomach mucosal atrophy and to investigate the utility of serum PG1 and/or G-17 concentrations for the objective evaluation of atrophic gastritis.

Possibility of non-invasive diagnosis of gastric mucosal precancerous changes.

Aim: To assess the possibility of non-invasive screening of atrophic chronic gastritis for preventing further development of gastric cancer.

Methods: One hundred and seventy-eight consecutive Helicobacter pylori (H pylori)-positive dyspeptic patients after detection of serum levels of pepsinogen-1 (PG-1) and gastrin-17 (G-17) by enzyme immunoassay were proposed for endoscopy and histology. The serologic and morphologic results were compared with estimating the sensitivity, specificity and prognostic values of the tests.