[Efficacy of two Helicobacter pylori eradication treatments in children with recurrent abdominal pain].

OBJECTIVE

To compare clinical and bacteriologic efficacy of two therapeutic trials to eradicate Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in two series of pediatric patients with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP).

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

n = 36 children with RAP-associated H. pylori infection. Age 9.8 +/- 3.1 years, 19 boys and 17 girls. Clinical and bacteriologic efficacy of two therapeutic trials was compared: Group A (1996-1997), n = 9, amoxicillin, bismuth subsalicilate, and metronidazol, and group B (1991-1993), n = 27, omeprazol, amoxicillin, and clarithromycin. Initially and post-treatment, H. pylori evaluation was carried out with upper endoscopy and gastric biopsies. For statistics, we used Student t test, chi2, Fisher test, and Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance (alpha = 0.05).

RESULTS

We found that 33/36 cases had gastritis at endoscopy, two with duodenal ulcer; nodular gastritis was observed in more than one half of total cases. All cases fulfilled histologic criteria of gastritis according to Sydney Score. In group A eradication was achieved in 28.6%, while in group B eradication rose to 77.8% (p < 0.05). In group A, 8/9 and in group B 15/27 persisted with RAP (p = 0.113).

CONCLUSIONS

High frequency of abnormal and histologic findings was observed in the series presented on children with RAP and H. pylori. Eradication efficacy in the omeprazol/amoxicillin/clarithromycin group was higher when compared with bismuth subsalicilate/amoxicillin/metronidazol trial. This efficacy is comparable to pediatric series treated with the same therapeutic trial.