I was diagnosed with PA about 5 years ago. Have had pre cancerous polyp removed and SI weekly but I have real tummy troubles with a fair amount of pain and lots of bloating. The results of my endoscopy were as follows:
gastric mucosa of the antrum and body, where lesions of chronic gastritis are observed, with signs of moderate activity.
moderate atrophy
intestinal metaplasia is identified in two fragments.
dysplasia is not observed
I had this done in Portugal so I was left a little confused.. I understand metaplasia is not good ?? Is this causing the pain ? I’m at a bit of a loss of what to do and whether I should be concerned or not.. any advice most welcome.. thanks so much
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lifegems
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Almost everybody with PA will have some degree of intestinal metaplasia. When you have PA you stop producing stomach acid because your immune system kills the cells that make the acid. The reduction in stomach pH by that acid is responsible for switching off production of the hormone gastrin. Without the acid gastrin levels stay high.
One of gastrin's many jobs is to promote the growth of those acid-producing cells. But the immune system keeps killing them off. As a compromise the stomach starts producing the type of cells that normally line the small intestine. Normal cells growing in the wrong place is metaplasia.
Your polyp would have been the result of hyperplasia (normal cells growing faster than normal). The gastric equivalent of a skin tag.
Almost all of the time those cells will behave themselves with no problems.
Infrequently, other types of cells (Enterochromaffin-like cells) can turn into Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs); again because of an excess of gastrin. These cancers are rare and indolent - my gastro's term for 'lazy'. I have had gastric NETs for more than five years. We don't bother trying to treat it, as it's very unlikely to do anything. Once a year I have a gastroscopy to ensure that the little beasties are still behaving themselves.
Over all these years of chatting to other people with PA I've only ever found two that had gastric NETs. They really are very rare. When I first started looking into it it turned out that I, as a male, was one in a million (they are more common in females, as is PA).
An endoscopy is when they stick a tube with a camera attached into you. A gastroscopy is when they stick it down your throat, a colonoscopy is when they attack from the other end.
Ah ok .. I’ve had endoscopy and colonoscopy.. polyps found in both tests one v large with colonoscopy. I just wondered if the gastroscopy was what I should be asking for ? No tumours found .. I don’t think
Hello , I have just been diagnosed with Intestinal Metaplasia via biopsy, my consultant didn’t even tell me , I only asked about the results of my biopsy as I’m still in pain! I’m so scared 😟
Hi mrsmaggie.. don’t be scared. I understand how you feel but the more you arm yourself with information the better you will feel. Maybe put a post on here in the general threads rather than in reply to this one and you might get more response. I too have metaplasia I believe that’s what’s caused my PA. have you been diagnosed with P.A. ? If not you need to get tested.. will then be managed with injections of b12
Diet can help with the metaplasia.. personally I take kefir which I think helps me.
There are others on this forum much better equipped to help you with a far better reply so try reposting.. good luck and don’t worry or it will make things worse as stress doesn’t help.. but there is no reason to worry as it can be managed x
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