Abstract

Eosinophilic gastritis is a rare disease that is characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of the bowl wall tissue, and the presentation of symptoms varies depending on the affected site. It is likely that eosinophil-active cytokines play important roles in this disease. A 22-year old man presented with abdominal pain and vomiting. Endoscopic gastric biopsy revealed eosinophilic infiltration, and the serum level of Interleukin (IL)-5 was increased. Gastric emptying was moderately delayed in this patient. The patient was treated with steroid and he showed dramatic clinical improvement with disappearance of the eosinophilic infiltration of the gastric mucosa, normalization of the serum level of IL-5 and improvement of the gastric emptying time. There has been few case reports of eosinophilic gastritis that have described the change of the serum level of cytokines and the gastric emptying. We report here on a case of eosinophilic gastritis and the patient showed elevated serum level of cytokines and delayed gastric emptying. The patient improved after being treated with steroid. (Korean J Gastrointest Endosc 2009; 39:313-318)

• Keywords: Eosinophilic gastritis, Cytokines, Gastric emptying