Giant lower oesophageal ulcer in a Bushman baby. a case report.

The case of a giant, penetrating lower oesophageal ulcer in a 14-month-old Bushman baby is reported. This would probably be classified as a Barrett's ulcer. Histological examination showed that the ulcer developed in columnar epithelium and that there was normal stratified squamous oesophageal mucosa both proximally and distally to the ulcer, indicating that it had developed in an islet of ectopic gastric mucosa. The ulcer originally described by Barrett developed in a short oesophagus, into which gastric mucosa extended in a continuous sheet. Lower oesophageal ulcers should probably be divided into a primary type, of which the present case is an example, and a secondary type, in which there is direct extension of gastric mucosa into the oesophagus due to metaplasia of oesophageal mucosa secondary to reflux oesophagitis.