atrophic gastritis

noun

: chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach leading to atrophy and thinning of parts of the gastric mucosa and often gastric metaplasia

Note: Atrophic gastritis may result from a chronic infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori or from an autoimmune response destructive to glandular cells of the stomach.

Atrophic gastritis can lead to the loss of certain important gastric cells and the replacement of them with intestinal-type tissue, a direct precursor to gastric cancer.

—Dustin Garth James and Liz Scott, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Digestive Health

H. pylori has been linked to chronic atrophic gastritis, an established precursor of the intestinal type of gastric carcinoma.

—Julie Parsonnet, The New England Journal of Medicine