← Return to Scope found erythematous mucosa in the antrum: What does it mean?

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@rprastein

By now, hopefully you've had a chance to discuss with your doctor. But for others, here is a translation of the results into more familiar terms.
REACTIVE GASTROPATHY: means something wrong with the stomach that appears to be a reaction to (contact with) something, as opposed to being due to infection or cancer or due to something physically or chemically disrupting it.

Histologic sections: are slices of tissue, usually fixed (treated to prevent degradation), embedded in a clear, solid material (to make slicing easier), mounted on a glass slide, stained (to make it easier to see and distinguish different structures), and viewed under a microscope.

Gastric antral and fundal type mucosa: mucosa is the inner lining of the stomach. The sections (slices) show the type of lining that is found in two anatomical areas of the stomach - the antrum and the fundus.

Reactive foveolar hyperplasia: means that the stomach lining is thicker and has deeper and more numerous folds than normal, and that the changes are typical of a reaction to (contact with) something.

Chronic inflammation: means changes are seen that suggest inflammation has been going on for weeks, months, or years.

Histologic changes: changes seen under the microscope.

NSAIDS: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin), naproxen (Naprosyn), or others. All of these compounds can be very irritating to the stomach.

Bile reflux: Bile is a liquid normally produced by the liver, stored in the gallbladder (which is below the liver, connected by a duct), and excreted through a duct into the first part of the small intestine. It helps to emulsify fats in the small intestine so they can be digested and absorbed. Just as strong soap is very irritating to the skin, so bile is very irritating to the stomach lining. There is a muscular valve between the bottom of the stomach and the beginning of the small intestine, that normally only allows partially digested food to travel in only one direction - out of the stomach and into the small intestine. Under certain circumstances, the valve may allow intestinal contents, including bile, to move backward into the stomach. That is called bile reflux.

Immunoperoxidase stain: a type of histologic stain that uses antibodies to target specific structures for staining (in this case, a bacterium) so that they can be seen under the microscope.

Helicobacter pylori: a type of bacterium that is known to cause gastritis and ulcers of the stomach and/or the first part of the small intestine (the duodenum).

Negative: the stained slides showed no evidence of the Helicobacter pylori bacterium.

Intestinal metaplasia: means abnormal development of the cells of the stomach, such that under the microscope, they look more like cells of the small intestine. This type of change is sometimes seen after a long period of exposure of the stomach lining to conditions that are more commonly seen in the small intestine (such as could happen with severe bile reflux over an extended period of time).
Abnormal cell development as seen under the microscope can be a precursor to cancerous changes.

PAS/Alcian blue stain: another histologic stain, one which clearly shows the difference between cells that secrete mucus and cells that do not secrete mucus, making it easier to tell if intestinal metaplasia is present.
No intestinal metaplasia was seen on the slides in this study.

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Replies to "By now, hopefully you've had a chance to discuss with your doctor. But for others, here..."

So sorry to hear what you are going through.
Thank you for all the discriptive explanations.
Going through some very serious gastro problems. Was in the emergency roon last week.
Appt with a new gastroenterologist. I will keep everyone in the loop. I have a hiatal hernia that is aggravating digestion.
Take care everyone. Praying for everyone for good health in the new year.
Colleenp