Peptic ulcer disease - causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, pathology

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Peptic refers to the stomach, and an ulcer is a sore or break in a membrane, so peptic

ulcer disease describes having one or more sores in the stomach - called gastric ulcers

- or duodenum - called duodenal ulcers- which are actually more common.

Normally, the inner wall of the entire gastrointestinal tract is lined with mucosa, which consists

of three cell layers.

The innermost layer is the epithelial layer and it absorbs and secretes mucus and digestive

enzymes.

The middle layer is the lamina propria and it has blood and lymph vessels.

The outermost layer of the mucosa is the muscularis mucosa, and it’s a layer of smooth muscle

that contracts and helps with the break down food.

Now in the stomach, there are four regions - the cardia, the fundus, the body, and the

pyloric antrum.

There’s also a pyloric sphincter, or valve at the end of the stomach, which closes while

eating, keeping food inside for the stomach to digest.

The epithelial layer in different parts of the stomach contains different proportions

of gastric glands which secrete a variety of substances.

Having said that, the cardia has mostly foveolar cells that secrete mucus which is a mix of

water and glycoproteins.