Marian Bátovský
This overview gives the information about the use of the non-endoscopic diagnosis of atrophic gastritis when using the blood test. Serum pepsinogens and gastrin-17 are known to be useful biomarkers for the detection of gastric pathologies. Together with the assay of Helicobacter pylori antibodies they are a suitable non-endoscopic tool for the diagnosis of various dyspeptic symptoms in gastroenterological outpatients. According to obtained data from literature a panel composed of serum pepsinogens I and II, gastrin-17 and anti-Helicobacter pylori antibodies provides a good correlation between gastric histology and serum values of this tests. The sensitivity and specificity of the blood test panel in delineation of patients with advanced atrophic gastritis were 71-75 % and 95-98 % respectively, corresponding to highly predictive values of the positive and negative test results (69-75 % and 97-98 %, respectively). This panel could be used as a first approach in the ’test and scope’ and/or ‘test and treat’ strategy in the primary care management of dyspeptic patients.