Chronic erosive gastritis: a clinical study.

In order to help clarify the clinical importance of chronic erosive gastritis, we describe our experience of 28 patients with this disorder who were seen over a 2-yr period. Twenty patients were male. Twenty-four patients presented with abdominal pain, for which no cause other than chronic erosive gastritis was found in 20 patients. Ten patients had pain for more than 1 yr. Three patients presented with painless vomiting. The antrum was involved in 27 patients and the body in 17 patients. There was no correlation between the number of erosions and the duration of symptoms. Double contrast barium meal was positive in nine of 21 patients. Of 19 patients treated with cimetidine, 15 improved clinically and six of eight had endoscopic improvement. The treatment of choice is unknown and controlled trials are needed. Symptoms in patients with chronic erosive gastritis appear to be due to the gastritis itself rather than to associated lesions.