Gastric polyps and dysplasia

Gastric polyps are not uncommonly encountered at endoscopy and their discovery will normally precipitate a biopsy to determine the nature of the lesion. The foundation for arriving at the correct diagnosis is to be aware of the entities that exist and to this end we offer a classification based on histogenesis to aid the diagnostic endeavour. The vast majority of polyps encountered are epithelial in origin and so this review will focus mainly on epithelial polyps. Like elsewhere in the gastrointestinal tract, epithelial polyps can be associated with dysplasia which can be challenging to diagnose and grade. Dysplasia in the upper gastrointestinal tract has undergone recent reclassification and so we provide update and discussion on this neoplastic process as it applies to the stomach.