Gastric mucosal morphology and faecal blood loss during ethanol ingestion

The faecal blood loss of six alcoholic subjects with normal gastric mucosa, six with superficial gastritis, and six with atrophic gastritis was studied before and during ingestion of 40% v/v ethanol using 51Cr-tagged red blood cells. No significant change in faecal blood loss was observed in the normal mucosa and superficial gastritis groups but all subjects with atrophic gastritis had significant increases of faecal blood loss during ethanol ingestion. These observations suggest that gastric mucosal morphology may be an important determinant of gastric mucosal bleeding during the ingestion of alcohol.