We herein describe three patients whose endoscopic images from over 15 years prior to their diagnosis of autoimmune gastritis (AIG) were available for review. All patients had corpus-dominant atrophic gastritis at the time of the diagnosis of AIG. Previous endoscopic images without severe atrophy showed erythema restricted to the fundic mucosa. These findings are suggestive of ongoing gastritis in patients with AIG. Initial endoscopy in Patient 2 showed multiple hyperplastic polyps that decreased in size and number over the course of 15 years. In this patient, circular wrinkle-like patterns and remnant oxyntic mucosa were visible after the atrophy had become quite prominent.
Keywords: Hashimoto's thyroiditis; autoimmune gastritis; early phase; endoscopic image; iron deficiency anemia.