title: Characteristic waffle-like appearance of gastric linitis plastica: A case report.
abstract: Linitis plastica is a gastric cancer of diffuse histotype that presents in the fundic gland area, and is characterized by thickening of the stomach wall and deformation of the stomach, resulting in a leather bottle-like appearance. A 66-year-old female was admitted to Kagawa University Hospital (Kagawa, Japan) with epigastric pain. X-ray examination revealed reduced gastric distension and deformation of the stomach, which exhibited a leather bottle-like appearance. Endoscopy indicated a depressed lesion in the gastric antrum, and abnormal folds, which crossed to form a waffle-like appearance in the upper gastric body. Analysis of biopsy specimens from the depressed lesion revealed a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Morphological changes in the gastric folds indicated that the tumor had invaded the upper gastric body, therefore, a total gastrectomy was performed. Subsequent pathological findings demonstrated that the tumor had spread from the primary lesion to the upper gastric body. Therefore, the present report recommends that the diagnosis of the spread of linitis plastica-type gastric cancer should include assessments of the primary lesion, as well as evaluation of morphological changes in the gastric folds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors.forename: Emiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oryu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors.forename: Joji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tani
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisaaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miyoshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors.forename: Asahiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirohito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoneyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kobara
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirohito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masaki
keywords: diffuse type cancers; linitis plastica; scirrhous gastric cancer; signet ring cell adenocarcinoma; waffle-like appearance