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Background and aims: The role of Helicobacter pylori and atrophic gastritis in the pathogenesis of gastric lesions in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) has not been clarified. Patients: Thirty one patients [...]

The long chain fatty acid composition of phospholipids in colonic mucosa was determined by high performance liquid chromatography in nine patients with active ulcerative colitis and eight healthy controls. The arachidonic acid composition was 12.5 +/- 1.4 mol % (mean +/- 2 SEM) in the inflamed colonic mucosa from the patients with active ulcerative colitis and 6.8 +/- 1.2 mol % in the intact mucosa from healthy controls (p less than 0.001). In the inflamed colonic mucosa, oleic acid and palmitoleic acid were concomitantly decreased (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.02, respectively), while docosahexaenoic acid was increased (p less than 0.05). Histopathological examination showed that there was a three fold increase in the cell density of inflammatory infiltrate in the lamina propria of the inflamed colonic mucosa (p less than 0.001). The cell density of inflammatory infiltrate correlated with the arachidonic acid composition of phospholipids in colonic mucosa (r = 0.89, p less than 0.005). These findings indicate that inflammation alters the long chain fatty acid composition of phospholipids in colonic mucosa. The observed increase in the arachidonic acid composition of phospholipids in inflamed colonic mucosa may contribute to the enhanced arachidonic acid metabolism in patients with active ulcerative colitis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two sisters with Turcot's syndrome, in which malignant cerebral neoplasms are associated with colonic polyposis, are presented. Cases reported in the literature, including some familial cases, have also been analysed. In familial cases, sex was unrelated to the occurrence of this disease and it was found only among siblings of the same parents and not in other members of the family. There was consanguinity in the parents of the patients in two out of three families. We therefore concluded that the mode of inheritance in this condition is autosomal recessive and that it is genetically distinct from the ordinary form of familial polyposis coli. Support is lent to the absence of an association between the two disorders by a difference in the number, size, and distribution of the colonic polyps found in Turcot's syndrome as compared with familial polyposis coli. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Responds to a comment on an article in 'Gut' about the classification of mucosa associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas. Classification from the World Health Organization.