Edgar Duque

The premalignant process in the gastric mucosa was studied by gastroscopic surveys of Colombian populations, and the prevalence of superficial gastritis, chronic atrophic gastritis, and intestinal metaplasia was calculated for population samples having a very high gastric cancer risk (Nariño), very low risk (Cartagena), and intermediate risk (Cali). The prevalence of individuals with normal mucosa in successive age groups was used to estimate "depletion" curves, which were taken as indicators of the dynamics of the premalignant process in each community. Differences corresponding to the geographic variation in stomach cancer risk were found: In the high-risk areas of Nariño, around 75% of the population developed some type of gastritis by 45 years of age, whereas in the low- and intermediate-risk population of Cartagena and Cali, the proportion of such lesions did not exceed 50% at age 45 or thereafter. The effect of environmental factors in early life seemed to be important in determining the prevalence of lesions in each population.

Journal Article Carcinoma and Intestinal Metaplasia of the Stomach in Colombian Migrants Get access Pelayo Correa, Pelayo Correa Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Carlos Cuello, Carlos Cuello Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Edgar Duque Edgar Duque Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Volume 44, Issue 2, February 1970, Pages 297–306, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/44.2.297 Published: 01 February 1970 Article history Received: 27 May 1969 Accepted: 13 October 1969 Published: 01 February 1970

Abstract A total of 322 cases of gastric cancer from the surgical material of the Pathology departments of three cities in Colombia and of Mexico City were divided according to the histologic classification of Laurén into two main histologic types: intestinal and diffuse. The intestinal type was predominant in high‐risk areas for stomach cancer, while the diffuse type was more frequent in the low‐risk areas. Data presented suggest that these two main histologic types may be connected with different precancerous lesions as a significant proportion of the intestinal type carcinomas arose from intestinal metaplasia of the gastric mucosa, while the diffuse type showed no such origin. The significance of these findings in relation to the genesis of stomach cancer is discussed.

Abstract A systematic search for polyps was carried out in 1,499 autopsy specimens of large intestine from Cali, Colombia, a low‐incidence area for colo‐rectal carcinoma. No cases of carcinoma were found in the series studied. The prevalence of each of the main types of polyps, namely adenomatous, hyperplastic and retention, is described. Retention polyps tend to disappear with age. Hyperplastic polyps appear around the 4th decade of life, are often multiple, are mostly found in the sigmoid and rectum and their prevalence does not increase appreciably with age; these findings are interpreted as added evidence against an association between hyperplastic polyps and carcinoma of the colon and rectum. Adenomatous polyps increase in prevalence with age and are more often multiple and in males tend to be concentrated in the sigmoid; tentative comparisons of Cali data with findings from countries at high risk for colo‐rectal cancer suggest a statistical association between prevalence of adenomas and incidence of carcinoma of the colon and an even stronger association between colon cancer and atypical cellular changes in adenomas. It is suggested that populations at high risk to colon cancer are probably characterized by an increased prevalence of adenomatous polyps, particularly in the sigmoid colon of males, and display a larger proportion of multiple polyps and atypical cellular changes.