GASTRIC POLYPS: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT ANALYSIS OF EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERISTICS

Aims:

Gastric polyps are usually benign lesions incidentally found during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Aim of this study was to identify the frequency and topography of different types of gastric polyps as well as their epidemiologic characteristics.

Methods:

All gastroscopies having been performed in our center over the last 15 years were retrospectively reviewed (1.1.2003 – 28.2.2018). Demographics, morphological and histological characteristics of polyps were collected.

Results:

Nine hundred eighty nine (4.1%) patients with at least one gastric polyp were identified from a total of 23668 gastroscopies. Mean patient age was 63.6 years old (range 15 – 92) with 58.8% being female. 46.5% of patients had more than one polyp detected. 66.3% of patients had polyps sized less than 5 mm while 3.7% had large polyps sized more than 20 mm. The most common site of polyp detection was fundus (37%) and 19.6% of patients had polyps in more than one sites of the stomach. 47.4% of patients had hyperplastic, 6.5% had adenomatous and 30.1% had fundic gland polyps. Some other pathology was detected in the rest 15.9% of patients. High Grade Dysplasia, detected in 5.6% of patients, was recognized only in adenomatous polyps.

Conclusions:

Gastric polyps were rather rare (4%) in our study population and more common in women. Most patients harbored hyperplastic polyps while adenomas represented the least common but more aggressive histological type.