What is linitis plastica?
Linitis plastica is a descriptive term referring to a particular imaging appearance of the stomach comprised of gastric wall thickening, luminal narrowing, and luminal nondistensibility, which may partially or diffusely involve the stomach. Scirrhous adenocarcinoma, metastatic breast cancer, and lymphoma are the malignancies that most commonly lead to linitis plastica, caused by intramural tumor infiltration and/or an associated desmoplastic response. Causes of severe gastric inflammation or injury, such as caustic ingestion or radiation therapy, may also lead to this appearance.
