Sulphomucin-secreting intestinal metaplasia in the human gastric mucosa. An association with intestinal-type gastric carcinoma.

Sixty-three gastrectomy specimens (21 with early intestinal type carcinoma, 21 with early diffuse carcinoma, and 21 with benign nonneoplastic lesions) were examined histochemically to determine the distribution of intestinal metaplasia (IM), particularly the sulphomucin-secreting type (Type IIB IM). The frequency and distribution of Type IIB IM were similar, irrespective of the disease, when age of the patient was matched and if the extension of the IM was similar. Type IIB IM was usually observed in the mucosa along the lesser curvature of the lower portion of the stomach, particularly in elderly patients and was mainly located in the deeper foveolae and intermingled with or transient to those in other types of IM. These findings suggest that a casual relationship between Type IIB IM and intestinal type carcinoma is dubious.