Upper gastrointestinal tract polyps: what do we know about them?

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate upper gastrointestinal polyps detected during esophago- gastroduodenoscopy tests. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis on data regarding 55,987 upper gastrointestinal endoscopy tests performed at the endoscopy unit of Istanbul Education and Research Hospital between January 2006 and June 2012. RESULTS A total of 66 upper gastrointestinal polyps from 59 patients were analyzed. The most common clinical symptom was dyspepsia, observed in 41 cases (69.5%). The localizations of the polyps were as follows: 29 in the antrum (43.9%), 15 in the corpus (22.7%), 11 in the cardia (16.7%), 3 in the fundus (4.54%), 3 in the second portion of the duodenum (4.54%), 2 in the bulbus (3.03%) and 3 in the lower end of the esophagus (4.54%). Histopathological types of polyps included hyperplastic polyps (44) (66.7%), faveolar hyperplasia (8) (12.1%), fundic gland polyps (4) (6.06%), squamous cell polyps (4) (6.06%), hamartomatous polyps (3) (4.54%), and pyloric gland adenoma (3) (4.54%). Histopathological analysis of the gastric mucosa showed chronic atrophic gastritis in 30 cases (50.84%), HP infection in 33 cases (55.9%) and intestinal metaplasia in 19 cases (32.20%). In 3 cases with multiple polyps, adenocarcinoma was detected in hyperplastic polyps. CONCLUSIONS Among polypoid lesions of the upper gastrointestinal tract, the most common histological type is hyperplastic polyps. Generally, HP infection is associated with chronic atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia. The incidence of adenocarcinoma tends to be higher in patients with multiple hyperplastic polyps.