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World J Gastrointest Endosc. Mar 16, 2015; 7(3): 265-273
Published online Mar 16, 2015. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v7.i3.265
Collagenous gastritis: Review
Kenya Kamimura, Masaaki Kobayashi, Yuichi Sato, Yutaka Aoyagi, Shuji Terai
Kenya Kamimura, Masaaki Kobayashi, Yuichi Sato, Yutaka Aoyagi, Shuji Terai, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata 951-8510, Japan
Author contributions: Kamimura K, Kobayashi M, Sato Y and Aoyagi Y and Terai S contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors declare that they do not have a current financial arrangement or affiliation with any organisation that may have a direct interest in their work.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Kenya Kamimura, MD, PhD, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, 1-757 Asahimachido-ri, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan. kenya-k@med.niigata-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-25-2272207 Fax: +81-25-2270776
Received: October 2, 2014
Peer-review started: October 11, 2014
First decision: October 28, 2014
Revised: November 3, 2014
Accepted: December 16, 2014
Article in press: December 17, 2014
Published online: March 16, 2015
Abstract

Collagenous gastritis is a rare disease characterized by the subepithelial deposition of collagen bands thicker than 10 μm and the infiltration of inflammatory mononuclear cells in the lamina propria. Collagenous colitis and collagenous sprue have similar histological characteristics to collagenous gastritis and are thought to be part of the same disease entity. However, while collagenous colitis has become more common in the field of gastroenterology, presenting with clinical symptoms of chronic diarrhea in older patients, collagenous gastritis is rare. Since the disease was first reported in 1989, only 60 cases have been documented in the English literature. No safe and effective treatments have been identified from randomized, controlled trials. Therefore, better understanding of the disease and the reporting of more cases will help to establish diagnostic criteria and to develop therapeutic strategies. Therefore, here we review the clinical characteristics, endoscopic and histological findings, treatment, and clinical outcomes from case reports and case series published to date, and provide a summary of the latest information on the disease. This information will contribute to improved knowledge of collagenous gastritis so physicians can recognize and correctly diagnose the disease, and will help to develop a standard therapeutic strategy for future clinical trials.

Keywords: Collagenous gastritis, Collagen deposition, Collagenous colitis, Nodularity

Core tip: The diagnosis of collagenous gastritis is based on the histological findings of collagen bands thicker than 10 μm in the subepithelial layer and infiltration of inflammatory mononuclear cells in the lamina propria. Similar histological changes are seen in the colon in collagenous colitis. While there are many cases of collagenous colitis published in the literature, there are only 60 reported cases of collagenous gastritis since the disease was first identified in 1989. The present review discusses the characteristics of this disease entity and summarizes the cases reported to date. Better knowledge and understanding of collagenous gastritis will help physicians to diagnose the disease, and the accumulation of future cases will help to develop a standard therapeutic strategy.