Gastritis Cystica Profunda: A Rare Gastric Tumor Masquerading as a Malignancy

Introduction: Gastritis cystica profunda (GCP) is a rare tumor which occurs more commonly in patients with prior gastric surgery.The nonspecific symptoms and radiographic appearance of this tumor mimic that of other hyperproliferative conditions making diagnosis difficult without definitive surgical resection.This report provides a comprehensive review of GCP and all GCP cases reported to date.Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted with all reported GCP cases analyzed.Keywords searched included gastritis cystica profunda, submucosal cysts of the stomach, and heterotopic submucosal gastric glands.Results: Thirty-seven GCP cases have been reported since 1972, which includes 29 (78%) men and 8 (21%) women (M:F ratio, 3.6:1).The overall mean age was 60.5 years (range, 39 -81 years) with 55.6 years (range, 39 -79) and 62.2 years (range, 39 -81 years) in women and men, respectively.65% (N = 24) had prior gastric surgery.62% (N = 23) of GCP tumors were located in the body; 24% (N = 9) in the fundus; 8% (N = 3) in the antrum; or 6% (N = 2) in the cardia of the stomach.GCP was an incidental finding in 19% of patients.Complete excision was performed most often (73%) followed by endomucosal resection (18%), and polypectomy (4.5%).One patient underwent surveillance (4.5%).Conclusions: GCP is a rare gastric tumor, which is difficult to diagnose preoperatively and masquerades as a malignancy.GCP is more common in men and typically presents with nonspecific symptoms.Although a benign lesion, GCP may represent an intermediate histology in the malignant progression to gastric neoplasia.To date, there have been no reports of local recurrence or distant metastasis following definitive surgical excision, which remains the standard of care.