6533b861fe1ef96bd12c5728

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Endomicroscopy of Small Bowel Diseases: Coeliac Disease, Lymphoma

subject

description

The different components making up the complement of immune elements within the alimentary tract vary greatly. In contrast to the Waldeyer’s ring region, the oesophagus and stomach are normally almost devoid of such immune apparatus, presumably because of the rapid transit of food and the chemically hostile environment for micro-organisms provided by salivary and gastric secretions. Only in pathological conditions, such as viral or fungal oesophageal infections, reflux oesophagitis or Helicobacter gastritis, does one encounter acquired mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue in these sites [1]. By contrast, the large and small bowel normally possess mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT), most visibly concentrated in the terminal ileum and appendix.