Data from: Presence of blood in gastric juice: a sensitive marker for gastric cancer screening in a poor resource setting

Background: Gastric cancer survival rates in Africa are low as many cases
are diagnosed late. Currently, there are no inexpensive, non-invasive and
simple techniques that can be employed in poor resource settings for early
case detection. In this study, we explored the possibility using blood in
gastric juice as a screening tool to identify patients requiring referral
for endoscopy. Methods: The study was conducted at the University Teaching
Hospital endoscopy unit in Lusaka, Zambia. During endoscopy, gastric juice
was aspirated and the pH determined using pH paper test strips. The
presence of blood was tested using urinalysis reagent strips. Results: We
enrolled 276 patients; 147(53%) were female and median age was 49 years
(IQR 40-64 years). The presence of blood was associated with mucosal
lesions, [OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.2-3.7, P=0.004]. It was also associated with
gastric cancer, [OR 6.7; 95% CI 2-35, P=0.0005], even at 1:10 and 1:100
dilutions, [OR 5.4; 95% CI 2.3-13.8, P<0.0001] and [OR 9.1; 95% CI
3.5-23, P<0.0001] respectively. The sensitivity for gastric cancer
detection using blood in gastric juice was 91% and the specificity was
41%. Analysis using the intensity of blood in gastric juice yielded an
area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.78; 95% CI
0.71-0.86 with a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 77%. Conclusions:
The presence of blood in gastric juice is associated with gastric mucosal
lesions. It has a high sensitivity but low specificity for gastric cancer
detection.