Peptic Ulcer

Peptic ulcer disease is a condition that causes ulcers (open sores) to develop in the lining of your digestive tract. “Peptic” means it’s related to digestion. The word is derived from pepsin, the major digestive enzyme that your stomach produces.

Pepsin and stomach acid are the active ingredients in your stomach juices that help to chemically break down food for digestion. Some of these juices also pass into the first part of your small intestine (duodenum). By design, these juices are highly corrosive.

All of your gastrointestinal tract has a protective mucous lining that insulates it from the substances inside. It’s especially strong in your stomach and duodenum. But in peptic ulcer disease, this protection fails, and digestive juices corrode through the lining.

An ulcer is an erosion that penetrates through all three layers of the mucous lining (mucosa). Most peptic ulcers occur in your stomach or duodenum, where gastric juices are most active. Less commonly, they can also occur elsewhere in your GI tract.

What are the different types of peptic ulcers?

Peptic ulcer disease most often affects your stomach and duodenum.

• Duodenal ulcers account for almost 80% of peptic ulcers.
• Stomach ulcers account for almost 20% of peptic ulcers.

You can get a peptic ulcer elsewhere in your gastrointestinal tract under unusual circumstances that cause stomach juices to pass through those parts. For example:

• Esophageal ulcer. Chronic acid reflux, stomach acid rising into your esophagus, may eventually erode the mucous lining in your esophagus enough to cause an ulcer. Your esophagus lining isn’t as protected against acid as your stomach lining is.
• Jejunal ulcer. You can get an ulcer in your jejunum, the middle part of your small intestine, as a side effect of surgery connecting your stomach to your jejunum (gastrojejunostomy). This is also called a stomal ulcer, marginal ulcer or anastomotic ulcer.

How common is peptic ulcer disease?

Between 5% and 10% of people worldwide will develop peptic ulcer disease (PUD) in their lifetimes. It can develop at any age, though it’s more common in middle-aged adults. It’s also more common in people assigned male at birth (AMAB) than in people assigned female at birth (AFAB).