Nontargeted Gastric and Esophageal Biopsies Are Ineffective Overall

Biopsies are often performed of nonspecific findings identified during esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). Investigators retrospectively evaluated the yield of nontargeted biopsies among 949 patients who underwent an EGD performed by one of 44 endoscopists at a tertiary hospital. Nontargeted biopsies of the stomach were identified in records as “normal” or “mild” to “moderate” levels of “erythema” or “inflammation” without other specifics and biopsies of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) as performed in “normal” mucosa.

Thirty-five percent of the EGDs included a nontargeted biopsy, most frequently performed for erythema in the gastric body (86%) and antrum (83%) and least frequently for normal mucosa in the GEJ (3%) and fundus (…