Gastric Polyp

Excerpt

Gastric polyps are distinct intraluminal projections of mucosal or submucosal tissue. These lesions represent proliferative growth that can contain the potential for malignant transformation. Gastric polyps have many subsets, the most commonly seen and described are the triad of gastric hyperplastic polyps (GHP) characterized by pronounced foveolar hyperplasia, fundic gland polyps (FGP) characterized by dilated and irregularly budded fundic glands predominantly lined by parietal cells with smaller proportion of chief cells, and adenomatous polyps characterized by low-grade glandular dysplasia.

However, within the umbrella of gastric polyps also falls a much broader differential for the lesion including carcinoids (grouping of endocrine cells resulting in projecting lesion), infiltrative lesions (xanthomas, lymphoid proliferations), mesenchymal proliferations (gastrointestinal stromal tumors, leiomyoma, fibroid polyps), and hamartomatous lesions (Peutz-Jegher, Cowden, juvenile) all of which may produce a mucosal/submucosal protrusion appearing as a gastric polyp. It is difficult to discern the likely histopathology of a polyp from simple inspection via endoscopy, in most instances, biopsy and histopathologic evaluation are necessary to guide management.