Small bowel gastric metaplasia: a report of three cases in children.

AIMS

To report three children displaying gastric metaplasia antral pyloric type of the small bowel mucosa.

METHODS

Analysis of clinical, histopathological and immunohistochemical data.

RESULTS

The first patient was a 14-year-old girl with history of chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction and chronic jejunitis; the second patient was a 6-year-old girl with a long-lasting jejunostomy; and the third patient was a 5-year-old girl with ileal-rectal anastomosis. The foci of gastric metaplasia were obvious with H&E-stained sections. The cells at the gastric metaplasia mucosa proved to be MUC-1 and sialyl-Tn positive by immunohistochemistry and they were in a pattern that was different from that of the adjacent mucosa; the cells were autofluorescent in H&E-stained sections.

CONCLUSIONS

Gastric metaplasia of the small bowel mucosa in these cases seems to have resulted from chronic inflammation and persistent regenerative activity. This has rarely been reported outside Crohn disease, and if ever in children.