SARCOID AND SARCOID-LIKE GRANULOMAS OF THE STOMACH

Abstract

THE STOMACH is not often cited as the location of sarcoid and sarcoid-like granulomas, nor can a specific clinical syndrome be attributed to involvement of the gastric mucosa by such lesions. Symptoms and clinical findings, occasionally of serious import, have been reported, however, in association with the finding of noncaseating granulomatous lesions in the stomach. The subject, therefore, seems worthy of review. The histologic diagnosis of sarcoid is sometimes difficult, even with carefully prepared biopsy material. Engle,¹in an article concerned chiefly with the pathology of these granulomas, found the stomach to be involved in 3 of the 27 autopsies he reviewed. One of the patients was a 54-year-old white man who died of hemorrhage from a duodenal ulcer after a protracted illness characterized by a gradual downhill course. Sarcoid-like granulomas were found in the gastric mucosa, and these were later proved to be due to Histoplasma capsulatum. Because