Prevalence and incidence of gastroduodenal ulcers during treatment with vascular protective doses of aspirin.

Background: Aspirin is valuable for preventing vascular events, but information about ulcer frequency is necessary to inform risk-benefit decisions in individual patients.

Aim: To determine ulcer prevalence and incidence in a population representative of those given aspirin therapy and evaluate risk predictors.

Methods: Patients taking aspirin 75-325 mg daily were recruited from four countries.

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis.

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is a rare gastrointestinal (GI) disorder of undetermined cause characterized by infiltration of eosinophils in the GI tract. Eosinophils accumulate in tissues and may release highly cytotoxic granular proteins, which cause severe tissue damage characteristic of eosinophilic gastroenteritis. Eotaxin may play a role in the recruitment of eosinophils into tissue in combination with chemoattractants and cytokines, including interleukin 3 and 5 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor.