Detailed Information on Ménétrier disease

Ménétrier's disease is also called giant hypertrophic gastritis, protein losing gasteropathy, or hypertrophic gastropathy. Menetrier disease is a rare disorder characterized by massive overgrowth of mucous cells (foveola) in the mucous membrane lining the stomach, resulting in large gastric folds. People who have this rare, chronic disease are usually men between ages 30 and 60. The cause of Ménétrier’s disease in children is thought to be triggered by an infection, either by a virus called cytomegalovirus or bacteria called Helicobacter pylori.

The infection triggers the development of large folds in the lining of the stomach, which causes a loss of protein into the stool. The loss of protein is what leads to the swelling. The illness also reasons glands in the stomach to waste away and causes the body to mislay fluid containing a protein called albumin. There are two forms of the disease a childhood form and an adult form.  The childhood form has a better prognosis. It affects boys and girls equally, most often after they have a viral illness caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV) or a bacterial infection caused by Helicobacter pylori.

Children are not born with this disease, and it is not passed from parents to their children.  The adult form linked with over expression of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-a). Symptoms of Ménétrier disease include pain or discomfort and tenderness in the top middle part of the abdomen, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and vomiting blood, swelling in the abdomen, and ulcer-like pain after eating. Treatments for Ménétrier’s disease focus on alleviating the pain of swelling and stomach pain. Treatment for Ménétrier's disease may include medications to relieve ulcer symptoms and treat inflammation, and a high-protein diet.

Chronic illness is sometimes improved with H2 antagonists or proton pump inhibitors. Erbitux, a monoclonal antibody that blocks ligand binding to epidermal maturity factor receptor, has shown promising results in lot of patients. Partial gastrectomy is occasionally recommended for persistent symptoms and particularly for uncontrollable protein loss. Octreotide, a somatostatin analogue, has been used to good effect in some patients and may obviate the want for surgery. Pediatric cases are normally treated for symptoms with the disease clearing up in weeks to months.