Pyloric gland adenoma: a clinico-pathological analysis of 90 cases

Pyloric gland adenoma is a rarely described neoplasia of the gastric mucosa. Recent publications have shown that similar lesions are also found in the gallbladder, the main pancreatic duct, the duodenum and the cervix of the uterus. Apart from case reports, few clinical data are available on these patients. We therefore conducted a search of the archived material collected between 1990 and 2000 for more clinical data on patients with this rare lesion.

Between 1990 and 2000, 90 patients were diagnosed as having a pyloric gland adenoma in the stomach (77 patients), duodenal bulb (7 patients), duodenum (1 patient), bile duct (3 patients) or gallbladder (2 patients).

Pyloric gland adenomas account for 2.7% of all gastric polyps and occur predominantly in old age (73+/-12.8 years), more frequently in women (75%) than in men. The predilection site in the stomach is the corpus mucosa (64%) and they are often found in patients suffering from autoimmune gastritis (36%). At the time of diagnosis, pyloric gland adenomas measure 16.1+/-9.1 mm in size. In 30% of gastric pyloric adenomas, transition to well-differentiated adenocarcinoma has been noted.

In our material, pyloric gland adenoma is the third most common neoplastic polypoid lesion in the stomach. Since a search through the literature revealed only a few case reports on this lesion, it is possible that for some reason this lesion might be diagnosed more often than reported.

Our study revealed that 30% of the gastric pyloric gland adenomas showed continuous transition to well-differentiated adenocarcinoma at the time of the initial diagnosis. This underscores the malignant potential of the lesion, and the need for polypectomy.