Gastric risk
Stratifying gastric-cancer risk, non-invasively
Where a serological panel fits before endoscopy.
Untreated H. pylori gastritis persists for life, and that chronic inflammation can progress to atrophic gastritis — a state linked to peptic ulcer and gastric cancer (Sipponen & Marshall, Gastroenterol Clin North Am 2000;29:579-92). And it is silent.
Endoscoping every dyspeptic patient is not feasible at India's volumes. A serological panel — pepsinogens, gastrin-17, H. pylori antibody — can flag the atrophic stomach that warrants a closer look.
This is risk-stratification before the scope: prioritising endoscopy by risk, not by queue.