Abstract
<h3>Introduction</h3> Lymphocytic gastritis (LG) is an inflammatory condition of the gastric mucosa characterised by an intraepithelial lymphocyte count >25 per 100 epithelial cells. Coeliac disease (CD) and Helicobacter pylori infection (HP) are the 2 major associations; however, in many cases a cause for this gastric inflammatory pattern is not identified. <h3>Methodology</h3> Cases of LG were retrieved by a word search (‘lymphocytic gastritis') from the database of Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology for 5 consecutive calendar years (1/1/2004–31/12/2008 inclusive). CD related cases required abnormal small intestinal biopsy and/or positive serology (increased tissue transglutaminase or positive anti-endomysial antibody). HP related cases required positive identification of organisms on the histological sections (usually aided by histochemical or immunohistochemical stains) and/or positive serology and/or positive urease breath test. LG cases without these features were considered non-CD/non-HP related. <h3>Results</h3> 279 cases of LG were identified. The male to female ratio was 1:1 and the age range was 1–87 years. The median age was 55 years. 31.90% had LG associated with HP. 19.71% were associated with CD and 1.79% had evidence of both HP and CD. 130 cases of LG (46.59% of the total) were not associated with CD or current HP infection. These showed seasonal variation. Of these cases, LG was more commonly diagnosed in autumn (40%) or winter (24%) than summer (17%) or spring (19%). As expected, no seasonal variability was observed with CD or HP related cases. <h3>Discussion</h3> Seasonal variability has previously been noted with lymphocytic colitis and duodenal intraepithelial lymphocytosis. An infective aetiology has been proposed to explain this, although no organism/s has been identified. We have been unable to explain this seasonal effect on our non-HP/non-CD associated LG cases.
Published Version
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