Incidence and pathology of peptic ulcer disease

Peptic ulcer disease has undergone a significant change in incidence and modern medical and surgical therapeutical modalities seems to change the history and outcome of the disease. The knowledge of the basic morphological and functional background of the entity is based on studies of ulcer formation and healing and of the influence of the gastroduodenal mucosa. Chronic gastritis is closely associated with peptic ulcer, and type, grade and dispersion of gastric changes are correlated to the activity and nature of the ulcer and the subsequent treatment, i.e. antrectomy. Parietal cell subpopulation shows a nearly unsusceptible numerical density during different phases of ulcer disease, only correlated to acid secretion in duodenal ulcer patients. The changes of gastric endocrine cells and morphological and subcellular changes of the parietal cells after medical and surgical treatment indicates a complex cellular regulation in the gastric mucosa.