Sucrose permeability as a marker for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory gastroduodenal injury: how sweet is it?

The authors report that sucrose is a novel permeability marker in the evalution of proximal gastrointestinal (GI) injury. In patients undergoing endoscopy and in volunteers who were chronically taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), the sucrose permeability test accurately identified patients with severe gastritis and gastric ulcer. The sucrose permeability test did not detect other types of proximal GI injury as reliably. Given the propensity of NSAIDs to cause upper GI injury, the authors suggest that this test can be used to identify people who might be at high risk from the sequelae of NSAID ingestion. This interesting marker deserves further evaluation in targeted prospective studies.