Abstract
This article provides an update of the clinical and pathological characteristic of precursors of gastric adenocarcinoma. Gastriccarcinogenesis is a multifactorial process involving genetic and environmental factors.
The intestinal type of gastric adenocarcinomamost commonly develops through a multistep process beginning with chronic gastritis and progressing through mucosalatrophy, intestinal metaplasia, and dysplasia to carcinoma. Less common gastric cancer precursor lesions include foveolar typeof dysplasia (or foveolar adenoma), pyloric gland adenoma, gastric pit/crypt dysplasia, fundic gland polyp, hyperplastic polyp,and some non-neoplastic hamartomatous polyps.
Precursor lesions of the diffuse type of carcinoma (signet-ring cell carcinomain situ and pagetoid spread of signet cells) may be found in a subset of carriers of a CDH1 gene mutations.