A Case Report of Juvenile Gastric Polyposis Associated with Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Stomach

Abstract

The patient was a 48-year-old man. Eight years earlier, he was referred to the department of enterology in our hospital because anemia was discovered at a medical check-up. At that time, the laboratory data were significant for anemia and hypoproteinemia. Endoscopic examination revealed numerous small and large easily-bleeding polyps in the stomach. The pathological findings revealed hyperplastic polyps, and the diagnosis was juvenile gastric polyposis (JGP). The patient had been followed until 3 months prior to visiting our hospital when his laboratory data revealed progression of anemia and hypoproteinemia. Surgical therapy was considered because the JGP had been resistant to conservative therapy and an abdominal CT scan showed irregular gastric wall suggestive of malignancy. We performed total gastrectomy and lymph node dissection, when we also found a large tumor at the fornix of stomach. The pathological diagnosis of the tumor was neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC). The patient's postoperative course was uneventful, and his anemia and hypoproteinemia improved.

Juvenile polyposis (JP) is rare and is generally considered benign. However, JGP has recently been noted to have a high risk for malignant potential. We sometimes encounter JGP cases associated with adenocarcinoma, but non with NEC. This report describes a case of JGP associated with NEC, together with a review of the relevant literature.