SYPHILIS OF THE STOMACH

Abstract

Opinions regarding the incidence of syphilis of the stomach are extremely divergent. Judging from the number of cases reported in the past few years by roentgenologists and gastro-enterologists one would conclude that involvement of the stomach is not at all uncommon. For instance, LeWald¹in 1923 recorded fifty cases examined by himself personally in which the radiologic diagnosis was gastric syphilis. Eusterman²in 1930 described observations on ninety-three patients in whom the diagnosis of syphilis of the stomach was made on clinical grounds. Many smaller series are reported by roentgenologists and clinicians both in this country and abroad. The relative frequency of syphilis of the stomach as determined clinically is in sharp contrast to its rarity based on postmortem statistics (see Konjetzny³). Pathologists in general are therefore inclined to look on most clinical reports as unreliable. Their attitude is tersely expressed in a statement by Sternberg⁴