Arising of autoimmune gastritis after helicobacter pylori eradication in an elderly female patient.

Abstract

Autoimmune gastritis (AIG) is a chronic condition in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the stomach lining, specifically targeting parietal cells that produce stomach acid and intrinsic factors. After the H. pylori infection was eradicated, AIG developed in an elderly woman with symptoms of the disease. 1.5 years after eradication, esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed remnants of the oxyntic mucosa sticky adherent dense mucus and scattered minute whitish protrusions at the greater curvature of the gastric corpus. Biopsy specimens from the greater curvature site of the gastric corpus before H. pylori eradication revealed neutrophilic cells in the superficial mucosa of the stomach that were mildly inflammatory and infiltrating. With the removal of H. pylori, the number of infiltrating inflammatory neutrophilic cells in the superficial mucosa decreased, whereas that of infiltrating lymphocytes increased in the sub-superficial mucosa. This case suggests that further studies regarding the detailed time course of AIG are required.