[Ménétrier disease--a rare disease of the stomach]

The present reports on a 51-year-old patient who presented with weight loss, anaemia, hypoalbuminaemia and ankle oedema, and was referred for laparotomy by a radiologist on the grounds of suspected carcinoma of the stomach suggested by an upper gastrointestinal x-ray series. Surgery revealed excessively thickened rugae with gyrus-like, tortuous surface epithelium folds (histologically Ménétrier's disease). A gastrectomy was performed, and the patient has been symptom-free and active ever since. In addition, the author presents a review of the literature published to date describing case reports of patients with Ménétrier's disease. Ménétrier's disease is a benign condition of the gastric mucosa in which gastric loss of albumin has been shown to be responsible for hypoalbuminaemia. The diagnostic procedure of choice is gastroscopy because upper gastrointestinal x-ray series cannot distinguish between carcinoma of the stomach with certainty. Since this is a chronic disease that does not respond to medication, treatment of choice today is (partial) gastrectomy dictated by the extent and severity of the findings.