Granulomatous gastritis: a clinicopathologic analysis of 18 biopsy cases

Granulomas in gastric biopsy specimens are extremely rare, and in Western countries, more than half are associated with Crohn's disease. To evaluate the incidence and their etiology in a gastric carcinoma (and Helicobater pylori infection)-prevalent area, gastric mucosal biopsies were reviewed and their clinicopathologic findings were analyzed. The clinicopathologic diagnoses of the 18 patients with granulomatous gastritis were as follows: chronic gastritis with (n = 14) and without (n = 1) H. pylori infection; gastric adenocarcinomas (n = 2); and Crohn's disease (n = 1). Almost all cases of granulomatous gastritis in this study showed small erosions or ulcers on the endoscopic examinations. H. pylori were found to be one of the most common causes of granulomatous gastritis after excluding all other causes for the granulomas in this study. The granulomas were more frequently found in the antrum, superficially located, and were related to damage within a pit in which the H. pylori were commonly observed. These findings suggest that H. pylori can be causal in the pathogenesis of granulomatous gastritis.