Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Polyps: What Do We Know About Them?

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> This study aimed to evaluate upper gastrointestinal polyps detected during esophagogastroduodenoscopytests. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: We conducted a retrospective analysis on data regarding55,987 upper gastrointestinal endoscopy tests performed at the endoscopy unit of Istanbul Education and ResearchHospital between January 2006 and June 2012. <br/><b>Results</b>: A total of 66 upper gastrointestinal polyps from 59patients were analyzed. The most common clinical symptom was dyspepsia, observed in 41 cases (69.5%). Thelocalizations of the polyps were as follows: 29 in the antrum (43.9%), 15 in the corpus (22.7%), 11 in the cardia(16.7%), 3 in the fundus (4.54%), 3 in the second portion of the duodenum (4.54%), 2 in the bulbus (3.03%) and3 in the lower end of the esophagus (4.54%). Histopathological types of polyps included hyperplastic polyps (44)(66.7%), faveolar hyperplasia (8) (12.1%), fundic gland polyps (4) (6.06%), squamous cell polyps (4) (6.06%),hamartomatous polyps (3) (4.54%), and pyloric gland adenoma (3) (4.54%). Histopathological analysis of thegastric mucosa showed chronic atrophic gastritis in 30 cases (50.84%), HP infection in 33 cases (55.9%) andintestinal metaplasia in 19 cases (32.20%). In 3 cases with multiple polyps, adenocarcinoma was detected inhyperplastic polyps. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Among polypoid lesions of the upper gastrointestinal tract, the most commonhistological type is hyperplastic polyps. Generally, HP infection is associated with chronic atrophic gastritis andintestinal metaplasia. The incidence of adenocarcinoma tends to be higher in patients with multiple hyperplasticpolyps.