Linitis plastica is a widely used term for Brinton's disease (also known as leather bottle stomach), a morphological variant of diffuse (or infiltrating) stomach cancer. In some texts, the term is also used to describe the condition of a rigid, non-distensible stomach which may be caused by a non-malignant condition such as a caustic injury to the stomach.

Linitis plastica is a type of adenocarcinoma and accounts for 3–19% of gastric adenocarcinomas. Causes of cancerous linitis plastica are commonly primary gastric cancer, but in rarer cases could be metastatic infiltration of the stomach, particularly breast and lung carcinoma. It is not associated with H. pylori infection or chronic gastritis. The risk factors are undefined, except for rare inherited mutations in E-cadherin. The hereditary form of this cancer, hereditary diffuse gastric cancer, accounts for only 1–3% of gastric adenocarcinomas. Somatic mutations in this gene are found in about 50% of diffuse-type gastric carcinomas.