The Incidence of Gastric Metaplasia in Patients with Duodenal Ulcer(*)

To investigate the incidence of duodenal gastric metaplasia and its underlying gastric or duodenal diseases, the authors obtained endoscopic biopsy specimens from the duodenal bulb at random sites during endoscopy from 19 normal subjects, 11 patients with gastric ulcer, 18 with duodenal and/or prepyloric ulcer (s), 7 with duodenitis and 8 with gastric erosions. The biopsy specimens were assessed with PAS staining to confirm gastric metaplasia. The incidence of duodenal gastric metaplasia was 72.2% in patients with duodenal and/or prepyloric ulcer (s), which contrasted with the patients with gastric ulcers (36.4%), duodenitis (42.9%), gastric erosions (12.5%), and normal subjects (5.3%). In conclusion, the results suggest that gastric metaplasia seen predominantly in patients with duodenal ulcer, seems to be related to hyperacidity and it plays some role in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer in duodenum.