Clinical significance of white gastric crypt openings observed via magnifying endoscopy

Table 1 Characteristics of study patients n (%)

	Diff-GC	Undiff-GC	GU	DU	Gastritis and normal
Number of patients	46	23	8	22	76
Age (yr, mean ± SD)	70.6 ± 9.2	65.5 ± 8.2	62.6 ± 10.6	49.2 ± 12.4	63.7 ± 12.5
Sex, male/ female	36/10	7/16	6/2	17/5	50/26
Current Helicobacter pylori- infection	40 (87.0)	21 (91.3)	8 (100)	22 (100)	48 (63.2)
Endoscopic degree of atrophy (mild/ moderate/ severe)	3/14/29	9/12/2	2/2/4	20/2/0	41/15/20
Round pits in LC	12 (35.3)	12 (52.2)	3 (37.5)	22 (100)	48 (63.2)
Round pits in GC	33 (71.7)	23 (100)	8 (100)	22 (100)	63 (82.9)

Diff-GC: Differentiated-type gastric cancer; DU: Duodenal ulcer; GC: Greater curvature of corpus; GU: Gastric ulcer; LC: Lesser curvature of corpus; Undiff-GC: Undifferentiated-type gastric cancer.

Table 2 Correlation between current disease and whiteness of crypt openings in round pit areas n (%)

Whiteness of COs	White-edged dark spot	White	DWP
Diff-GC	16 (35.6)	24 (53.3)	5 (11.1)
Undiff-GC	2 (5.7)	17 (48.6)	16 (45.7)
GU	2 (18.2)	6 (54.5)	3 (27.3)
DU	13 (29.5)	26 (59.1)	5 (11.4)
Gastritis and normal	56 (50.5)	41 (36.9)	14 (12.6)

COs: Crypt openings; Diff-GC: Differentiated-type gastric cancer; DU: Duodenal ulcer; DWP: Dense white pit; GU: Gastric ulcer; Undiff-GC: Undifferentiated-type gastric cancer.