Superficial gastric carcinoma developed on localized hypertrophic lymphocytic gastritis: a variant of localized Ménétrier's disease?

Abstract

Ménétrier's disease is a rare premalignant condition that usually involves the entire stomach. Only few cases of localized disease have been reported, rarely with cancer. Lymphocytic gastritis is a newly described entity that may share a common pathogenesis with Ménétrier's disease. The authors report the case of a 62 year old woman with known liver cirrhosis in whom endoscopic examination of the stomach showed an antral tumor. Examination of the surgical specimen showed a superficial gastric adenocarcinoma developed on an hypertrophic gastropathy with both Ménétrier's disease and lymphocytic gastritis features. This observation strengthens the hypothesis of a common mechanism between Ménétrier's disease and lymphocytic gastritis, which may be part of the same disease spectrum. This disease could also correspond to the "hypertrophic lymphocytic gastritis" recently described.