Acute Phlegmonous Gastritis During Steroid Treatment for Crohn's Disease

Acute phlegmonous gastritis is an extremely rare and frequently fatal condition characterized by suppurative bacterial infection of the gastric wall. Since Cruveilhier first described the condition in 1862, the proportion of affected patients who survive remains no higher than 58%, despite important advances in diagnostic techniques and the availability of more potent broad-spectrum antibiotics. In this manuscript, we present a unique case of acute phlegmonous gastritis encountered during steroid treatment for Crohn’s disease. We think that diagnosis at a very early stage and rapid treatment with a combination of broad-spectrum antibiotics, and sometimes early surgical removal of the infected tissues, may prove to be a life-saving strategy when treating such patients, as it was in the case discussed here.