Gastric campylobacter-like organisms and active antral gastritis in Puerto Rico
Toro, D.H.; Bravo-Fernández, E.F.; Marcial, M.A.; González, C.
Boletin de la Asociacion Medica de Puerto Rico 82(3): 107-110
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-4849 PMID: 2322349 Document Number: 700024
The raison d'etre of this study was to search for an association between active antral gastritis and Helicobacter pylori in Puerto Rican adults. Biopsy-specimens were obtained from 100 consecutive male veterans (mean age 60 years) undergoing an elective upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (excluding those with a history of gastric carcinoma, previous antrectomy, abnormal coagulation profile or thrombocytopenia). The biopsy-specimens were examined blindly for histological presence of inflammatory activity and/or intestinal metaplasia; H. pylori was sought by an acridine orange fluorescence technique. H. pylori was identified in 85 (84%) of the 101 biopsy-specimens which contained inflammatory activity (i.e., active gastritis and chronic gastritis accompanied by activity); however, this organism was present in only 1 (10%) of the 10 biopsies showing chronic gastritis without activity (P <0.05). (There was also an association between H. pylori and duodenal and gastric ulceration, but the numbers studied were small.) The authors conclude that the H. pylori-active gastritis association (possibly causal) exists in the Puerto Rican population.G.C. Cook.
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