Ischemic gastritis: a rare but lethal consequence of celiac territory ischemic syndrome.

AIM: Ischemic gastritis is poorly known by physicians and is often fatal if not correctly diagnosed. Here, we report on the clinical, endoscopic and imaging features and treatment outcomes for five ischemic gastritis patients.

METHODS: This was a retrospective, single-centre study of patients treated for ischemic gastritis between January 2009 and April 2012. All patients underwent transluminal angioplasty or open revascularization surgery.

RESULTS: Five patients (4 men, 1 female) were included in the present study. The condition was diagnosed in two cases of peritonitis with gastric or duodenal perforation, two cases of acute epigastric pain and one case of gastric bleeding, profuse vomiting and hypovolemic shock. Three of the five patients had endoscopically proven gastric ulcerations or necrosis. A computed tomography scan contributed to the diagnosis in all cases. The symptoms resolved in all cases after gastric revascularization via an aortohepatic bypass (N.=1), a renohepatic bypass (N.=1), a retrograde iliosuperior mesenteric bypass (N.=2) with associated celiac artery angioplasty (N.=1) and celiac and superior mesenteric artery angioplasty (N.=1). During follow-up, three patients died of starvation due to short bowel syndrome (N.=1) or metastatic lung cancer (N.=2).

CONCLUSION: Ischemic gastritis is a component of celiac territory ischemia syndrome and is closely associated with chronic or acute mesenteric ischemia. Computed tomography always informs the diagnosis. The rapid healing observed here after revascularization confirmed the ischemic nature of the condition and the inappropriateness of gastric resection in this context.