What are the Complications of Gastritis and Gastopathy?
Peptic Ulcers
Peptic ulcers are sores on the lining of your stomach or duodenum. Acute erosive gastropathy can cause peptic ulcers. H. pylori gastritis and reactive gastropathy, especially from NSAIDs, also increase your chance of developing peptic ulcers.
Anemia
H. pylori gastritis and autoimmune gastritis can cause problems absorbing iron from food, leading to iron-deficiency anemia.
Autoimmune gastritis can cause problems absorbing vitamin B12 from food. Without enough vitamin B12, the body can’t make enough healthy red blood cells, leading to pernicious anemia.
Atrophic Gastritis
Chronic gastritis, most often H. pylori gastritis and autoimmune gastritis, can lead to atrophic gastritis. In atrophic gastritis, chronic inflammation leads to the loss of the glands in the stomach lining that make stomach acid and enzymes. Atrophic gastritis has also been linked to the development of stomach cancer.
Stomach Cancer
Chronic H. pylori gastritis and autoimmune gastritis increase the chance of developing growths in the stomach lining.
These growths may be benign or may be stomach cancer. H. pylori gastritis increases the chance of developing a type of cancer called gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, a type of adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Early diagnosis and treatment of H. pylori can prevent the development of some types of stomach cancer.
References:
1. NIH
2. NIDDK
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