Table 1.
Summary of reported cases of gastric syphilis in Korea.
| Patient No. | Author, year | Age (years old)/sex | Symptoms (duration) | Endoscopic description | Location | VDRL/TPHA/FTA-ABS/HIV | Detection of Treponema pallidum | Cutaneous manifestations | Other extracutaneous manifestations | Treatment | Symptom and endoscopic improvement | Follow-up |
| 1 | Kim et al, 1981[6] | 33/female | Epigastric pain and discomfort, anorexia, weight loss (2 months) | Multiple irregular shaped erosions | Antrum, body | 1:8/+/NA/NA | NA | NA | Liver, neurosyphilis | Benzathine penicillin G IM | 4–5d/2 mo | 2 mo |
| 2 | Kim et al, 1981[6] | 24/female | Vomiting, epigastric discomfort (1 month) | Multiple irregular shaped ulcers | Antrum, body | +/+/NA/NA | NA | NA | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA/3 mo | 3 mo |
| 3 | Kim et al, 1981[6] | 20/female | Indigestion, epigastric pain, vomiting (3 mo) | Erosion | Antrum, body | 1:32/+/NA/NA | NA | NA | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | 25 d/NA | 25 d |
| 4 | Kim et al, 1981[6] | 23/female | Epigastric pain, vomiting (20 d) | Multiple irregular shaped ulcers and erosions, hypertrophy of rugae | Antrum, body | +/+/NA/NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 5 | Kim et al, 1981[6] | 35/female | Indigestion, epigastric pain, vomiting (3 months) | Multiple small ulcers, mucosal hypertrophy | Antrum, body | +/NA/NA/NA | NA | NA | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA | NA |
| 6 | Chung et al, 1989[7] | 21/female | Epigastric pain, vomiting (1 month) | Multiple erosive hemorrhagic patchs | NA | 1:64/1:1280//+/NA | Fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption complement staining (+) | Palm, sole | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA/NA | NA |
| 7 | Kwon et al, 2004[8] | 43/male | Indigestion, epigastric discomfort, Skin eruption, both lower extremity pitting edema (2 weeks) | Multiple shallow ulcers with varying degrees of nodular mucosa | Antrum | -/-/+/NA | NA | Genital area, trunk, palm, sole | Liver, kidney | Benzathine penicillin G IM | 16 d/1 mo | 8 wks |
| 8 | Lee et al, 2006[9] | 46/male | Nausea, vomiting, melena (6 days) | Huge ulcerative lesion with diffuse irregular and nodular mucosa | Antrum | 1:32/1:160/NA/NA | Warthin-Starry silver staining (+) | Genital area (2 y ago) | Negative | Benzathine penicillin G IM | 3 d/NA | NA |
| 9 | Ji et al, 2006[10] | 21/female | Epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting (2 months) | Uneven coarse edematous mucosa, shallow ulceration | Antrum, body | +/+/NA/NA | NA | Genital area | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA/2 months | 2 months |
| 10 | Choi et al, 2006[11] | 43/male | Epigastric tenderness, anorexia (1 month) | Diffuse mucosal nodularity with several ulcerations with interveneing hyperemic friability. | Antrum, body | 1:64/NA/+/- | Warthin-Starry silver staining (+) | Negative | Negative | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA | N/A |
| 11 | Park et al, 2008[12] | 25/male | Epigastric pain, vomiting (1 mo) | Geographic irregular ulcer and shallow depressed mucosal lesions | Antrum | NA/+/NA/NA | Warthin-Starry silver staining (+) | NA | Duodenum | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA | NA |
| 12 | Jeong et al, 2008[13] | 57/male | Epigastric pain, indigestion, nausea, headache (3 mo) | Multiple nodular mucosal changes and multiple variable sized depressed lesions | Antrum, body | 1:512/1:320/NA/- | Warthin-Starry silver staining (-) | Negative | Neurosyphilis | Benzathine penicillin G IM | 7 d/3 mo | 6 mo |
| 13 | Kim et al, 2009[14] | 25/male | Epigastric pain (3 wks) | Multiple round whitish patches of variable size, irregular shaped shallow ulcers and erosions with easy bleeding | Antrum | +/NA/+/- | Warthin-Starry silver staining (+) | NA | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA/2 mo | 2 mo |
| 14 | Kim et al, 2009[14] | 32/male | Epigastric pain, general weakness, indigestion, abdominal discomfort, melena (10 d) | Numerous erosive or ulcerative lesions with whitish border | Antrum, body | +/NA/+/- | Warthin-Starry silver staining (+) | Genital area | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA/36 d | 36 d |
| 15 | Kim et al, 2012[15] | 21/female | Nausea, vomiting, weight loss (2 mo) | Hypertrophied gastric rugal folds with several ulcerations | Antrum, body | +/NA/+/NA | NA | NA | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA | NA |
| 16 | Roh et al, 2015[16] | 34/male | Epigastric pain, febrile sense, generalized edema, inguinal rash (3 wks) | Multiple irregular shallow ulcers with whitish exudates and central depression | Antrum, body, fundus, cardia | 1;256/+/+/- | NA | NA | Kidney | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA | NA |
| 17 | Present case | 35/male | Epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting (1 mo) | Multiple geographic ulcers with easy touch bleeding and whitish exudates | Antrum | 1;8/NA/+/- | Warthin-Starry silver staining (+) | Palm, sole | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | 5 days/2mo | 2 mo |
| 18 | Present case | 33/male | Epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting (1 mo) | Multiple variable sized whitish discolourised flat elevated lesion with focally erosions and ulcerations, large geographic ulcer with regular edge and even whitish exudate base | Body | NA/1;1280/+/- | Warthin-Starry silver staining (+) | Genital area (2 mo ago) | NA | Benzathine penicillin G IM | NA | NA |
FTA-ABS = fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption, HIV = human immunodeficiency virus, IM = intramuscular injection, NA = not available, TPHA = treponema pallidum hemagglutination, VDRL = venereal disease research laboratory.