Intestinal Metaplasia found in the stomach but not Barrett's Esophagus.

[Funky Tummy]

I am 29 and have a history of Stomach/Colon cancer in my family.  I have been taken the anti-biotics on several occasions for H. Pylori, but have not been able to rid my body of it.  During my last upper endoscopy my docotor again discovered redness in my stomach and took a biopsy.  No redness was found in the esophagus.  The lab results showed intestinal metaplasia in the stomach, which is typically found in the cases of barretts esophagus.  She said this is very unusual and said she can't say if it's pre-cancerous or not.  Has anyone run into a case like this and what were the results....What do you think I should do?

[Nipherny]

I was just wondering, what are/were your symptoms?

Thanks,

In His Service,
Nipherny

[daw]

In the esophagus, Intestinal Metaplasia (which means abnormal cells for that area) can turn into low grade dysplasia, then high grade dysplasia and then cancer (adenocarcinoma). All this shows up in the biopsy. I don't understand why she said she couldn't tell you if it was cancerous? I think you should question her some more or get a second opinion.

[Wilson]

daw thanks for that information. Not to correct you, but I think Funky Tummy said the doctor couldn't say whether it was PRE-cancerous, not whether it was cancerous. I guess that officially declaring something as being "pre-cancerous" is kind of like saying you can predict the future, in a way, and maybe some doctors aren't willing to do that.

In any case, the metaplasia seems like something to keep an eye on. And Funky Tummy I would keep trying to treat that h. pylori until you get rid of it. There has been an association between h.p. and stomach cancer, although I don't think they know what the relationship is yet (whether it's causal or not). You may want to switch doctors if you've been with this same one the whole time and she's had no success. Also the second opinion on your metaplasia might be a good idea. Best of luck to you, FT.