[Clinico-endoscopic spectrum of gastritis associated with Helicobacter pylori in pediatrics].

In order to gain further knowledge about the clinical and endoscopic features of chronic gastritis (CG) associated with Helicobacter pylori (H py) we retrospectively analyzed 81 pediatric cases. All were biopsy-proven. The cases were divided in two groups: Group (1988-1992) included 21 cases. These represented the early stage of clinical recognition of the disease. Group 2(1993-1995) comprised 60 cases and represents the stage in which the disease was mandatory. Mean number of cases/year was 4.2 and 20 for group 1 and 2, respectively. Recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) was the most frequent clinical symptom (74/81; 91%), followed by upper digestive tract hemorrhage (UDTG) (34/81; 41.9%). The combination gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and esophagitis (E) was found in 52/81 (64.2%) of the children. Endoscopically, granularity of the mucosa was more frequently found in cases with RAP (47/74), GER (28/36) and E, while a smooth mucosa predominated in patients with UDTH (23/34). Our findings strongly suggest that symptomatic CG with H py in children expresses peculiar clinical and endoscopic features. Since RAP was present in 91% of the cases it appears adequate to include this disease in the differential diagnosis of it. These clinical manifestations have not been previously linked to CG with H py. Better understanding of the clinical and endoscopic spectrum of CG with H py results in adequate treatments and possibly prevention of gastric (and esophageal) diseases found in adults.