2018 Volume 60 Issue 3 Pages 215-222
A 65-year-old man was referred to our department for further investigation of melena. The patient had been undergoing hemodialysis for nine years for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) due to diabetes mellitus, and had been receiving oral lanthanum carbonate for about seven years. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) revealed oozing of blood in the antrum and a large number of fine white granules in the entire gastric mucosa. Hemostasis was achieved using argon laser via endoscopy. Biopsy specimens revealed brownish, granular mesh-like deposits in the lamina propria, leading to a diagnosis of lanthanum deposition in the gastric mucosa. The deposition tended to occur in regions of the gastric mucosa with intestinal metaplasia. There has only been one reported case of bleeding in the gastric mucosa with lanthanum deposition. Thus, we need to carefully observe and collect more data pertaining to such cases. Further investigations are required to assess the long-term effects of lanthanum deposition in the gastric mucosa.
