[Comparative endoscopic, light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy studies of the gastric mucosa in patients...

Ten patients suffering from chronic uremia were selected for comparison studies of gastric mucosa. With endoscopy erosive gastritis was seen in the corpus and antrum of five patients and in the fundus of two patients. Conventional microscopy (nine patients) revealed chronic gastritis I three times in the fundus and five times in the corpus. Gastritis II was localized once in the corpus and twice in the antrum. Gastritis III was present in the antrum of four patients. Under the scanning electron microscope lesions of gastric mucosa were present in all ten cases. Single cell necrosis (A), mucosal defects involving basal membrane (B), destruction of tunica propria (C), and muscularis mucosae with bleeding (D) were seen. Mucosal lesions A and B are early stages of gastric erosions. The most severe lesions were seen in the antrum mucosa with all three methods.