Phlegmonous gastritis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis

Phlegmonous gastritis is an acute infection of the stomach wall by pyogenic bacteria. It represents an extremely rare disease with a fulminating course and a high mortality rate. A precise lifetime diagnosis is generally unsuccessful. The inflammation, most often caused by alpha-hemolytic streptococci, is most frequently expressed in patients who are more susceptible to infection. Among these are elderly patients, women, patients with chronic gastritis, chronic peptic ulcer, hepatic cirrhosis and decreased immune tolerance, T-cell leukemia, patients with a low socio-economic status and alcoholics. In our paper we are describing the case of a 66-year old female patient, who had received many years of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. She died due to phlegmonous gastritis, which was only established post-mortem. The authors share the opinion that the occurrence of the phlegmonous form of gastritis was influenced significantly by the treatment with nonsteroidal antirheumatics and corticosteroids, which she had received for many years and also immediately prior to the complication.