Gastritis is the clinical name of the inflammation of the gastric inner lining or mucosa. It produces symptoms of burning and discomfort, but they are not enough to make the diagnosis. Instead, the diagnosis should be histological to evaluate stomach inflammation, but it can also be diagnosed by endoscopy. It is one of the most prevalent stomach pathologies and a common cause of outdoor patient admission in hospitals.
The stomach has 4 different layers of tissue. From inside out, they are named mucosa, submucosa, muscular layer, and serosa. The stomach can be divided into 4 parts, called the body, fundus, cardiac region, and pyloric antrum. The average ph of the stomach is 1.4, and it produces gastric juices, which include hydrochloric acid, pepsinogen, gastrin, and mucin. Mucin produced by foveolar cells is essential for the protection of the gastric lining by acting as a barrier against the hydrochloric acid and toxins. It plays an important role in the pathogenesis of gastritis.
Types of gastritis
Classification of gastritis is based on the inflammatory cells present and infectious period into acute and chronic. Acute gastritis is characterized by the infiltration of neutrophils and occurs for 6 months or less. Chronic gastritis is the inflammation of gastric mucosa for longer than 6 months and is characterized by the infiltration of mononuclear cells in the gastric mucosa, such as macrophages and lymphocytes.
Acute gastritis is again classified as erosive gastritis, non-erosive gastritis, and hemorrhagic gastritis. The classification of chronic gastritis should be done according to the pathogenesis of the disease as infective and autoimmune. Another classification takes into consideration the histological pattern of the disease, dividing chronic gastritis as atrophic or granulomatous.
Gastritis can also be classified according to the part of the stomach affected. Thus, we have antral gastritis, which involves the antrum or cardiac gastritis in the cardiac region. If the inflammation is present in multiple areas of the stomach, it is called multifocal gastritis, and the involvement of the whole stomach lining is called pangastritis.