The embryonic gut of vertebrates consists of endodermal epithelium, surrounding mesenchyme derived from splanchnic mesoderm and enteric neuronal components derived from neural crest cells. During gut organogenesis, the mesenchyme differentiates into distinct concentric layers around the endodermal epithelium forming the lamina propria, muscularis mucosae, submucosa and lamina muscularis (the sm...

BACKGROUND Lymph node metastasis is commonly found in carcinoma of the thoracic oesophagus, even when the tumour invades only the submucosa. Although lymph node status greatly influences the outcome, the pattern of early lymphatic spread has not been investigated, and the role of lymph node dissection is still a matter of controversy. METHODS A series of 110 patients with superficial carcinom...

The organization of the Enteric Nervous System (ENS) was studied in the human colon. Fragments of the whole colonic wall were either routinely processed or Zinc-Iodide Osmium impregnated. Single-layer preparations were also obtained from some of the Zinc-Iodide Osmium-impregnated specimens. The results showed some differences in the organization of human colonic ENS from that of other mammals. ...

A peptic ulcer is an erosion in a segment of the gastro intestinal mucosa, typically in the stomach (gastric ulcer) or first few centimeters of duodenum (duodenal ulcer) that penetrates through the muscularis mucosae. Contrary to popular belief, ulcer is not caused by spicy food but instead is most commonly due to either an infection or long term use of medications. Standard treatment is a comb...

The ultrastructural binding sites of endomysium antibodies, specific serological markers of gluten sensitive enteropathy, were investigated in the rabbit oesophagus using the immunogold technique. Endomysium antibodies from sera of patients with dermatitis herpetiformis and with coeliac disease bound in an identical manner in a non-fibrillar material closely associated with fine collagenous-ret...

Gastritis cystic polyposa/profunda (GCP) is defined as a hyperplastic polyp that contains foci of misplaced foveolar and/or glandular epithelium in the muscularis mucosae or in the deeper portions of the submucosa or the muscularis propria [1-6]. The lesion called polyposa when an intraluminal polyp is present [1,2] and profunda when the cystic lesion located within the submucosa [3] and the bu...

A 73-year-old man with short segmental Barrett's esophagus underwent esophagoscopy, and a slightly depressed, discolored lesion was found on the anterior wall of the lower esophagus. Under a provisional diagnosis of differentiated adenocarcinoma without local lymph node metastasis, endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) was carried out. En bloc resection with tumor-free lateral/basal margins wa...

BACKGROUND The large bowel is a rare site for leiomyomas. Furthermore, a colonic pedunculated leiomyoma is very rare. Complete endoscopic removal of a colonic leiomyoma can be problematic because of its submucosal origin. CASE REPORT We report a colonic pedunculated leiomyoma that was removed by endoscopic polypectomy without complications. A 74-year-old man was referred to our hospital becau...

Endoscopic submucosal (sm) dissection (ESD) is a recently used technique that enables en-bloc resection of large colorectal tumors allowing a more precise histopathological analysis of the resected specimen. However, it has not been widely adopted even in Japan mainly due to its technical difficulty and increased risk of perforation. Herein, we present an ESD-treated lesion with deep sm invasio...