Gastric mucosa in female patients with fundic glandular polyps

To evaluate the characteristics of the gastric mucosa in women with fundic glandular polyps, we examined gastric acid secretion, fasting serum levels of pepsinogen I and gastrin, and gastric histology in 11 female patients with fundic polyps, and compared the results with 30 female controls without endoscopic abnormalities and 50 female patients with gastric foveolar hyperplastic polyps. No significant difference was found in gastric and secretion and fasting serum levels of pepsinogen I and gastrin between the patients with fundic glandular polyps and the control subjects. Histological examination showed that atrophic gastritis was generally not found in the patients with fundic glandular polyps. In contrast, gastric acid secretion and fasting serum levels of pepsinogen I were significantly lower and serum gastrin levels were significantly higher in the patients with foveolar hyperplastic polyps than in the other two groups. Also, patients with foveolar hyperplastic polyps had a higher prevalence and further advanced atrophic gastritis in the fundus than did the other two groups. Our investigations demonstrated that fundic glandular polyps arise from gastric mucosa without atrophic gastritis, whereas foveolar hyperplastic polyps develop from mucosa affected by atrophic gastritis, especially type A gastritis.