RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: To understand the gastroscopic and pathological characteristics of patients with miasis in Poyang Lake area, and to explore the relationship between schistosomiasis and pathological changes of gastric mucosa. METHODS: Volunteers with or without schistosomiasis were recruited and divided into a case group and a control group. All the objects were examined by electronic gastroscopy and pathological examinations. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty-three volunteers diagnosed with chronic or advanced schistosomiasis in the case group showed different degrees of gastric mucosal changes, including 7 cases with schistosomal eggs deposited beneath the gastric mucosa (with an incidence of 2.77%) , 33 cases with dysplastic hyperplasia and intestinal metaplasia (with an incidence of precancerous lesion of 13.04%), and 1 case with gastric cancer. While in the 200 volunteers without schistosomiasis in the control group, the results showed milder gastric mucosal changes, 33 cases were detected with dysplastic hyperplasia and intestinal metaplasia (with an incidence of 7.50%), and 1 case was diagnosed gastric cancer. The difference between the incidences of precancerous lesion in the two groups had no statistic significance (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence and extent of gastric mucosal changes in schistosomiasis patients are higher and more serious than those in non-schistosomiasis patients, and gastrointestinal schistosomiasis is not related to gastric cancer.