The clinical significance of nonspecific gastritis

Summary

Chronic nonspecific gastritis can be looked upon as a single pathologic process. The various stages represent steps in the direction of atrophy, with variable evidences of repair, including eventually even outspoken epithelial hyperplasia.

I believe that uncomplicated chronic nonspecific gastritis causes no illness. For many decades the concept of gastritis has been used as a diagnostic “excuse” to cover dyspeptic symptoms that have not been understood.

The complications of gastritis are moderately common and may occasionally be very serious—gastric secretory deficiency, pernicious anemia, hyperplastic tumor formation, possibly malignant transformation, and hemorrhage.