The intramucosal cysts of the stomach in Japanese subjects having focal (elevated) dysplasia.

The frequency of intramucosal cysts underneath focal (elevated) neoplastic lesions (which include epithelial dysplasia and early gastric cancer) was recorded in eighty-eight resected stomachs. The mean cyst index (i.e. the amount of intramucosal cysts divided by the amount--in cm--of gastric mucosa analyzed) underneath such lesions was 30.9 (SD +/- 16.9), while in adjacent normal-looking gastric mucosa it was 9.4 (SD +/- 8). The difference was significant (P less than 0.001). The cyst index was highest in female patients, underneath focal (elevated) dysplasias. Previous work indicated that the normal-looking gastric mucosa in Japanese patients with peptic ulcer disease was 3.4 (SD +/- 6.6). The present findings appear to suggest that cystic formation in gastric mucosa may herald an early neoplastic growth at the luminal aspect in some of the cysts.