BACKGROUND AND AIM Gastric cancer is believed to develop by a multistage process. Intestinal metaplasia (IM) is regarded as a premalignant condition; it is classified into subtypes I, II and III. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the subtypes of IM were associated with progression to gastric cancer.

METHODS The study cohort consisted of 861 subjects, categorized as controls, gastric ulcers, dysplasia and cancer. The IM was scored histologically using the Sydney classification for the antrum and the body of the stomach. The biopsies were stained with high iron diamine and alcian blue (pH 2.5) (HID-AB2.5), and the IM was subtyped as I, II or III.

RESULTS The proportion of IM subtypes I, II and III were 14.5%, 47.2% and 38.3% in the antrum, and 28.1%, 57.8% and 14.1% in the body of the stomach, respectively. These distributions did not show significant differences depending on disease or Helicobacter pylori positivity. In cases that were H. pylori-positive, the prevalence of IM subtype II in the cancer and dysplasia groups was higher than in the control group in the body of the stomach (P < 0.05). The proportion of IM subtype III in the antrum increased in proportion with age (P = 0.036).

CONCLUSIONS IM subtyping was not found to play a major role in the prediction of gastric cancer development in Korea. IM subtype III was associated with aging, and IM subtype II appeared to be related to gastric carcinogenesis in the presence of H. pylori infection.