Gastric heterotopia of the anus: Report of two rare cases and review of the literature

Abstract

Heterotopic gastric mucosa is an extremely rare occurrence in the anorectal region, with 41 reported cases till date. Of these, in only nine cases the heterotopic tissue has been found to be located within 2 cm of the dentate line. We report two cases of gastric heterotopia in the anus - one, in a 55-year-old man; and the other, in a 35-year-old woman. Sigmoidoscopy showed presence of a single sessile anal polyp in the first patient and hemorrhoid in the other. Pathologic examination of the biopsy specimens revealed fundic-type gastric mucosa in both the cases. Both the patients had complete resolution of symptoms after the excision. We present these cases to highlight the significance of recognizing this unusual histologic entity. To the best of our knowledge, the second case represents the first reported description of gastric heterotopia in association with hemorrhoid.