| [ Summary ] |
Gastritis, is a term that is pathologically defined as an inflammatory process, involving the gastric mucosa. Endoscopists, often associate the term with redness, edema, erosion or atrophy of the stomach. Rediscovery of Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) enabled us to understand the pathogenesis of gastritis to a certain extent. Persistent infection with H.pylori causes chronic active inflammation in the superficial layer of the gastric mucosa, resulting in destruction of epithelial cells and loss of glands. Pseudopyloric glands, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia or adenocarcinomas occur in parallel with the process of atrophy. In this paper, the pathogenesis of gastritis is discussed from pathological viewpoints, and we present the histological findings, as compared with the endoscopical classification, based on the updated Sydney System. |