[Erosive lesions in the gastroduodenal zone of patients with bronchial asthma]

The purpose of the investigation was to study the frequency and clinicomorphological features of erosive lesions (EL) in the gastroduodenal zone (GDZ) of patients with bronchial asthma (BA). One hundred and sixty-three patients suffering from allergic BA of different degrees of severity were examined. The examination included clinical evaluation of the GDZ, esophagogastroduodenoscopy with gastric and duodenal mucosal biopsy, and subsequent analysis of the biopsy samples using histological, histochemical, morphometric methods, and electron microscopy. The frequency of EL in GDZ in BA patients was high (32.5%). The intensity of clinical symptoms, probably caused by concomitant gastroesophageal reflux disease, was low; dyspeptic syndrome prevailed. The morphological findings demonstrated the presence of gastric mucosal hyperergic inflammatory response to Helicobacter pylori infection, which was one of the factors determining the high frequency of EL in the pyloroantral zone in BA. The development of EL in the GDZ mucosa of BA patients was associated with parietal and endocrinal cell hyperplasia.