Gastric epithelial polyps. A 10-year study.

We have reviewed the 10-year experience of a community teaching hospital with gastric epithelial polyps and have analyzed 121 polyps removed from 35 patients. Hyperplastic polyps constituted nearly 75% of the polyps examined; fundic gland polyps constituted 17%, and adenomatous polyps were infrequent (8.6%). No clinical or endoscopic finding distinguished the variants of polyp before histologic examination. The majority of hyperplastic and fundic gland polyps were multiple. Whenever there were multiple polyps, all polyps were of the same histologic type. In no case did adenocarcinoma originate within a benign polyp. In only a single case was there an associated adenocarcinoma elsewhere in the stomach. None of the adenomatous polyps was linked with gastric adenocarcinoma.