Prognosis
The prognosis of acute gastritis is very good, since almost all acute inflammations of the stomach mucosa heal spontaneously if the damaging substance is omitted. Only in very rare cases, acute gastritis can lead to life-threatening bleeding of the stomach lining. Type A gastritis increases the risk of stomach cancer in the affected patients, which is why these patients should come for a gastroscopy and biopsy once a year in order to be able to detect any degeneration of the gastric mucosa at an early stage.
Patients with type B gastritis have a three to four times higher risk of developing ulcer disease in the stomach or small intestine. Furthermore, an infestation with Helicobacter pylori is associated with an increased risk of adenocarcinoma or MALT lymphoma of the stomach. However, malignant degeneration is less frequent in type B gastritis with a probability of 1:1000 than in type A gastritis.
Prophylaxis
Acute gastritis can be prevented by taking painkillers or cortisone preparations over a longer period of time and treating them with proton pump inhibitors. Also a healthy and balanced nutrition with rare alcohol, coffee and nicotine consumption prevent the acute gastritis. Since acute gastritis can also be triggered by excessive stress, it is advisable to maintain good psychosocial health to prevent the development of acute gastritis. Inflammation of the type A gastric mucosa cannot be prevented because it is triggered by the body’s own processes and is sometimes associated with other autoimmune diseases.
