Gastrointestinal tract

The stomach is really a sac
With a valve at the front and the back
Has growths inflammation
Of course ulceration
Turns into intestinal tract.

Ulcers have craters quite deep
Right through the stroma they creep
With base granulation
Cell infiltration
And circular walls rather steep.

If artery ulcer devours
Patient's condition soon sours
Can quickly produce
Hemorrhage profuse
With death in a matter of hours.

If it penetrates through stomach wall
Perforation's the word that we call
Such an erosion
Can lead to explosion
Blood pressure quickly will fall.

As the acid and pepsin do spread
On the peritoneal surface they tread
Severe shock and pain
Follow in train
A sequel that fills us with dread.

Cancers of course can be gastric
Often in zones metaplastic
If growth is diffuse
With cells small and loose
We call it then linitis plastic.

At the end of the stomach begins
A tube known as the intestines
With parts large and small
Lined by cells rather tall
The first section's duodenum.

Here ulcers occur like those gastric
Complications appear just as drastic
But it rarely has cancer
Contact's an answer
Too short for a change neoplastic.

Now contact time also explains
Why cancer in gut's not the same
In the small bowel it's rare
When to colon compared
Which is just where dense contents remain.

Tumors you find in the colon
May result in intestines quite swollen
They protrude or constrict
The walls become thick
Ulceration can then push a hole in.