Gastrocirrhosis
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
This article defines gastrocirrhosis as a rarely used term for the thickening and contraction of the stomach wall due to connective tissue proliferation. It notes that the condition, often called cirrhosis of the stomach or linitis plastica, can result from chemical poisoning or chronic gastritis and may clinically mimic stomach cancer.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
GASTROCIRRHOSIS, gastrocirrhosis (from the Greek gaster—stomach, kirrhos—properly tawny, a word serving to denote the induration of an organ due to the proliferation of connective tissue within it), is a rarely used term; it is more common to speak of “cirrhosis of the stomach” (cirrhosis ventriculi, syn. linitis plastica). These terms refer to the proliferation of connective tissue in the wall of the stomach, which shrinks and leads to the constriction and reduction in size of the entire stomach or only its pyloric part, whereby the stomach wall appears thickened and dense. This change arises after poisonings (for example, with acids), and also complicates certain forms of chronic gastric catarrh; sometimes it can simulate cancer (scirrhus) of the stomach.
Related articles
Mentioned in
Cite this page
“Gastrocirrhosis.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.com/article/gastrocirrhosis/