Asymptomatic gastric heterotopia in the rectum with Helicobacter pylori infection.

Gastric heterotopia is very rare in the rectum - less than 50 cases have been reported so far. Only in six of them Helicobacter pylori has been observed in heterotopic mucosa. We report a case of a 58-year-old woman with asymptomatic gastric heterotopia in the rectum, incidentally revealed during colonoscopy as a small, sessile polyp. The presence of H. pylori was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. This finding supports the opinion that H. pylori may pass along the gastrointestinal tract in a viable form and that the fecal-oral route of transmission is possible.