Gastric hyalinization presenting in life and mimicking gastric cancer.

Gastric hyalinization is an unusual abnormality that has in the past been regarded by some authorities as a postmortem artifact. We describe a 69-year-old patient who presented with symptoms due to the condition, and who was treated by surgical resection of the diseased stomach. To our knowledge, no other case presenting in life has been identified in the literature, which we reviewed in the light of the present case. The cause of the condition remains unknown.