Diagnostic yield and biopsy practice variability between gastroenterologists and general surgeons performing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy

Table 7 Temporal changes in biopsy practice and histopathological diagnostic yield according to specialty, n (%)/mean ± SD

Specialty	Study period	Procedures (n)	Biopsy performed	Biopsy fragments	Intestinal metaplasia	Helicobacter pylori	Dysplasia	Malignancy
Gastroenterology	2015-2018	2434	2158 (88.7)	2.33 ± 1.24	243 (10.0)	1484 (61.0)	67 (2.8)	21 (0.9)
	2019-2022	2400	2142 (89.3)	2.11 ± 1.20	233 (9.7)	1261 (52.5)	5 (0.2)	32 (1.3)
	2023-2025	2398	2220 (92.6)	4.17 ± 2.22	198 (8.3)	1333 (55.6)	5 (0.2)	10 (0.4)
	P value	-	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.086	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.003
General surgery	2015-2018	231	157 (68.0)	2.06 ± 1.43	14 (6.1)	71 (30.7)	2 (0.9)	1 (0.4)
	2019-2022	574	415 (72.3)	1.45 ± 0.82	40 (7.0)	233 (40.6)	1 (0.2)	7 (1.2)
	2023-2025	788	697 (88.5)	3.99 ± 2.20	60 (7.6)	428 (54.3)	0 (0.0)	4 (0.5)
	P value	-	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.706	< 0.001	0.028	0.270

Percentages for histopathological findings were calculated using the total number of procedures within each specialty and study period. Because the primary purpose of this analysis was to evaluate temporal changes in biopsy practices and diagnostic yield at the procedure level, procedures without biopsy were retained within the denominator. P values represent comparisons across study periods (2015-2018, 2019-2022, and 2023-2025) within each specialty. Categorical variables were compared using the χ² test and continuous variables using one-way analysis of variance.