Reactive gastropathy, chemical gastropathy also called gastritis of ëàC typeàû or "chemical gastritis" is an abnormality in the stomach caused by chemicals, e.g. bile, alcohol, and characteristically has minimal inflammation.
Reactive gastropathy has a large number of causes, including:
The diagnosis is by examination of tissue, e.g. a stomach biopsy.
Reactive gastropathy is morphologically distinct entity that can be separated from gastritis, which by definition has a significant inflammatory component.
As a reactive gastropathy may mimic a (true) gastritis symptomatically and visually in an endoscopic examination, it may incorrectly be referred to as a gastritis. Even aware of the underlying etiology of the pathologic process, e.g. NSAID use, the label "chemical gastritis" is applied to a chemical gastropathy.