Abstract
In order to know the mechanism of the peptic ulcers and other gastric mucosal lesions which frequently occurred in patients with liver cirrhosis, serum and gastric mucosal pepsinogen I (PGI) levels, gastric acid secretion and peptic activity were measured as the aggressive factors on the gastric mucosa in cirrhotic patients. Moreover, endoscopic examination and biopsy were performed to observe gastric mucosa. Serum and mucosal PGI levels and gastric peptic activity were significantly lower, and gastric acid secretion tended to be lower in cirrhotic patients than in the control group. The atrophic types of the gastric mucosa in the cirrhotic patients were considered rather milder than those of the control group. Gastric mucosal flecky redness and edema were frequently observed in cirrhotic patients and the marked interstitial edema and dilatation of the capillaries were his-tologically observed. Those morphological findings suggest some relationship to the disturbance in gastric secretion. In comparison to the cirrhotic patients with no ulcer, the cirrhotic patients with gastric ulcers showed a tendency of higher value in gastric acid secretion and in serum PGI levels, and the cirrhotic patients with duodenal ulcers showed definitely higher value with statisti-cal significant difference. These results suggest that the manifestation of peptic ulcers in liver cirrhosis also correlates to the gastric mucosal aggressive factors.
