If you think about it, then all the people on the planet had or have problems with digestion. Many do not even realize that a bomb is "ripening" in their bodies. Improper nutrition, lack of diet and regimen, negligence in cooking or too eccentric taste preferences may not prove to be the best in the future.
Congestive gastropathy: what is it? How to treat?
All the results of the inflammatory process in the stomach can be divided into two categories. These are gastritis and gastropathy familiar to everyone. With gastritis, the gastric mucosa is affected, erosion and minor ulcerations are visible on it. In this case, a person experiences discomfort after eating too sharp, hot or cold food. Everyone at least once in his life came across him, especially at a time when he was young and lived separately from his parents.
With gastropathy, no significant changes in the gastric mucosa occur. It shows small areas of inflammation - and nothing more. However, this well-being is deceiving. At the cellular level, there is still damage. Epithelial cells are destroyed, and their recovery is slower than normal.
Stagnant gastropathy is called a violation of the motility of the stomach and its passage through the digestive canal up to the small intestine.
Treatment of pathology includes drug therapy, taking vitamins, a certain diet and giving up bad habits. It is also recommended to lead a healthy lifestyle, including walking in the fresh air.
Prevalence
Doctors around the world register diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, and then summarize the information received in general statistics to know what measures to take to limit the incidence.
Congestive gastropathy is a fairly common pathological process, even against the background of other nosologies. It occurs not only against the background of malnutrition, but also when taking certain medications, after prolonged stress, as well as due to accidents and as a complication of other somatic diseases.
More than a quarter of patients taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs report stomach pain, the percentage of gastropathies after burns, injuries and surgical interventions already reaches eighty. Cirrhosis and hypertension also contribute to the overall "cauldron". And given that patients either do not pay attention to the symptoms or hide them from their doctor, the statistics are very underestimated.
Etiology
Congestive gastropathy is caused by frequent and uncontrolled intake of non-selective NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). They are often prescribed, since they have several positive effects at once: they reduce inflammation, reduce temperature and swelling, and remove pain. But patients must adhere to certain conditions that they often ignore or consider inconsequential.
The second cause of gastropathy can be called diseases of other systems and organs:
- pancreatic tumor;
- cirrhosis of the liver;
- portal hypertension.
The following in the ranking are accidents associated with the use of chemically active substances. In fourth place is permanent stress and head injury. And only at the end of the list appear gastrointestinal diseases, such as reflux of bile or intestinal contents back into the stomach, antiperistaltics.
Risk factors
Congestive gastropathy does not occur from scratch. She is always accompanied by actions or conditions that aggravate or provoke the action of the etiological factor.
These include:
- frequent use of alcohol;
- long smoking experience;
- over sixty years old;
- the presence of chronic diseases;
- the presence in the stomach of Helicobacter pylori (a microorganism that causes one of the types of gastritis) ;
- ulcer;
- prolonged uncontrolled medication.
A person is not able to control some of these factors, but in order for the disease to develop, it is necessary to have a combination of two or three items from the list.
Pathogenesis
Rough, hot or spicy food enters the stomach in large quantities, which is not able to cope with such a volume of work. Because of this, the area of the mucous layer increases, more folds appear, they become higher and thicken. Microcirculation and vascular permeability increase, more mucus and hydrochloric acid are produced. The body is trying to cope with congestion.
The antrum of the stomach is overstretched, which leads to a loose closure of the sphincter between the stomach and the duodenum. Because of this, the contents of the small intestine, together with bile and pancreatic enzymes, enter the stomach, causing burns and mucosal atrophy. This further complicates the digestion process.
Symptoms
How does congestive gastropathy manifest itself? Symptoms may appear much later than the onset of the disease itself. This is due to the fact that time is required for the formation of gastropathy, and at first, a person does not notice any uncomfortable changes in the body.
In a later period, the entire set of dyspeptic phenomena manifests itself:
- nausea with vomiting, heartburn;
- decreased or lack of appetite;
- weakness;
- a feeling of heaviness in the stomach, pain when pressed;
- belching and the appearance of yellow plaque on the tongue.
In advanced cases, when the patient stubbornly ignores the symptoms, gastropathy can manifest with a clinic of gastric bleeding.
Forms
Morphologically, two forms of congestive gastropathy are distinguished - this is a mild and severe degree. In a mild course, a mosaic pattern of folds and pathologically dilated vessels is found on the mucosa. In severe cases, besides this there are hemorrhages and inflammatory spots.
There is still gastropathy, which affects only the antrum. It is located on the border with the duodenum, and the first is affected by chyme reflux. When there are stagnant processes in the stomach, the passage of food through the antrum slows down, which leads to acidification or fermentation of food. This increases the acidity of the medium and damages the mucous membrane. A person feels pain at night, heartburn, nausea and vomiting.
Focal gastropathy is manifested by areas of redness against the background of a gastritically altered gastric mucosa. In these places, ulcers may appear over time.
Diagnostics
Gastropathy of the stomach does not have specific symptoms. It imitates several gastrointestinal diseases at once, so at first glance even the most experienced doctor is not able to understand what exactly the problem is.
It all starts with a survey, establishing the time of onset of the first symptoms and collecting complaints. Then comes the examination and laboratory and instrumental diagnostics. First of all, the doctor prescribes a general and detailed blood test, biochemical tests, bacteriological examination of the gastric environment to identify Helicobacter pylori. Characteristic features are a decrease in hemoglobin and platelet count.
Fibrogastroscopy is the gold standard in the diagnosis of gastropathy. It allows not only to examine the mucous membrane, but also to make a sampling of material for histological examination. A biopsy is taken from pathologically altered sections of the stomach.
If required, the patient undergoes abdominal sonography, radiography, CT or MRI.
Complications
Congestive gastropathy in antrum has a tendency to complications. The most common of them include bleeding from pathologically altered vessels of the stomach. Sometimes, this is a late and only symptom of the disease. More than half of patients diagnosed with gastropathy show ulcers, erosion, and perforation on fibrogastroscopy.
The most dangerous complication is the development of a tumor process on the gastric mucosa. Since the process of restoration of the mucous membrane is disrupted, and the protective system of the organ works "for wear", uncontrolled cell growth may appear against the background of inflammation.
Differential diagnosis
Congestive gastropathy is an extremely difficult diagnosis, despite the apparent abundance of symptoms. Since it mimics other nosological forms found in the digestive tract. The most common among them are gastritis, ulcer of the stomach or duodenum, pyloric stenosis, sphincter insufficiency of the antrum, reflux disease and other, more exotic diseases.
In order to make the right choice, the doctor prescribes fibrogastroduodenoscopy, bacterial examination, biopsy and other tests. Excluding all other options, only stagnant gastropathy remains.
Treatment
What can be done to a patient with a diagnosis of "congestive gastropathy"? Treatment begins with the identification of the etiological factor and its elimination. If the defeat of the intestinal tube is of a secondary nature, then it is advisable to direct all efforts to cure the primary pathology.
For the immediate relief of the symptoms of gastropathy, proton pump inhibitors, histamine receptor blockers, antacids, antibiotics, and microcirculation improving drugs are used. The main task of the doctor is to choose a combination of drugs that would enhance their positive effects and neutralize side effects of each other.
Do not underestimate the role of maintenance therapy. The patient needs to be prescribed B vitamins, especially B12, since if the gastrointestinal tract is malfunctioning, its amount decreases sharply. In addition, it is advisable to take vitamins C and K. In addition, the patient is advised to walk more in the fresh air, do gymnastics and strengthen the abdominal muscles and diaphragm.
Nutrition for congestive gastropathy
For successful treatment, you must follow a diet. And this thesis should be firmly rooted in the patient’s head, because the whole effect of drug treatment will come to naught if a person returns to old eating habits at the first sign of improvement.
Products that irritate the mucous membrane are excluded from the diet: too hot food, spicy, smoked, salty and pickled. Food should be taken fractionally, in small portions with interruptions of two to three hours.