[Upper gastrointestinal tract lesions in patients with nonspecific ulcerative colitis]

Endoscopic and morphological examinations of the upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT) were made in 80 patients with nonspecific ulcerative colitis (NUC). Tests for Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric juice acidity were also conducted. It was found that in many patients NUC was associated with development of nonspecific esophagitis, gastritis and duodenitis. The endoscopic examination revealed erosions of the abdominal esophagus in 13.8% cases, erosive-ulcerative alterations in the stomach and duodenum in 27.5% of NUC patients. The most marked changes occurred in patients with severe NUC. Alterations in the upper GIT were not related with either Hp or the acidity. Morphological examinations of the biopsies from the esophagus, stomach and duodenum demonstrated changes similar to those in biopsy material from the colon. The same type of morphological changes in mucosa from the upper GIT and the colon in NUC indicates that their pathogenesis is also the same.