Plastic linitis, also known as Brinton’s disease, is a rare form of gastric cancer that causes the stomach lining to become stiff and shrunken, limiting its ability to stretch and contract. It can spread rapidly and is difficult to treat, with surgery and chemotherapy used to relieve symptoms rather than remove the cancer. Symptoms include loss of appetite, weight loss, and difficulty swallowing.
Plastic linitis is a form of gastric cancer that attacks the stomach lining by putting it into a shrunken, skin-like state that limits the stomach’s ability to stretch and contract properly. Also known as Brinton’s disease, linitis plasticis is rare but can also affect other organs in the body when it occurs. The disease is common in Asian countries, such as Japan. Surgery is often done to treat the symptoms of this cancer and the success rate is limited. This condition reduces the stomach’s storage capacity and can be fatal.
When linitis plasticis occurs, the stomach walls thicken, reducing the elasticity of the stomach. The stomach turns into scar tissue that becomes stiff like skin and begins to shrink. This occurrence is often referred to as “leather bottle stomach” due to the rigid shape of the stomach. The stomach is unable to digest food properly due to its rigid, skin-like shape.
Plastic linitis is aggressive and can spread rapidly to other parts of the body, including abdominal organs and lymph nodes. Diseases such as syphilis, sarcoidosis, and Crohn’s disease have been reported to cause this condition, although there is no definitive cause for this type of cancer.
Symptoms of plastic linitis include loss of appetite, diarrhea, significant weight loss, feeling full after eating only a small amount of food, and vomiting blood. Even eating meals can be a painful experience, and abdominal pain or bloating could occur in men and women who have this cancer. Other symptoms include a loss of strength and prolonged constipation. The effects of this condition can also extend to the esophagus, making it difficult to swallow food. The cancer may be difficult to diagnose due to the hardening of the stomach and is often only noticed in advanced stages when treatment options are limited.
Plastic linitis is difficult to treat because this form of cancer grows rapidly, making it unlikely that doctors will completely remove it using any of the available treatments. A gastrectomy is one way to treat this condition and involves the surgical removal of part of the stomach or the entire organ, depending on the severity of the cancer. Chemotherapy is another treatment option for some patients, but its level of effectiveness varies. It is not uncommon for these treatments to be done as a method of relieving the symptoms caused by plastic linitis rather than removing the cancer.
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