[Histomorphometric study of the gastric mucosa in portal hypertension]

Histologic features of the gastric (antral and fundic) mucosa in 14 patients with portal hypertension due to alcoholic cirrhosis and a mosaic pattern of the fundic mucosa at endoscopic examination have been compared with those of the gastric mucosa in 14 control subjects. We attempted to correlate endoscopic and histologic aspects using a semiquantitative morphometric study in which the height of the mucosa, the number per mm2 and the diameter of vascular sections of the interglandular chorion, and the number per mm2 of large (greater than or equal to 20 micron) vascular sections of the superficial chorion were measured. For all parameters, the mean values were higher in cirrhotic patients than in controls, but significant differences were found only in the antral mucosa (height of the mucosa and number of large vascular sections in the superficial chorion). These results confirm the frequency and the importance of vascular abnormalities of the gastric mucosa in patients with portal hypertension, but do not explain, at least with the methodology used, the mosaic pattern of the fundic mucosa disclosed in most cirrhotic patients.