Clinical variants of chronic gastritis in childhood

Abstract

Objective. To establish the features of various clinical variants of chronic gastritis in childhood.
 Material and methods. 415 children aged 617 years with chronic Hp-associated gastritis were examined. The clinical and anamnestic data, the results of laboratory, endoscopic and morphological studies of gastrobioptates were analyzed. Genetic typing of Hp was carried out with the determination of 16 pathogenicity factors. The persistence of human herpes viruses of types 6 and 8 and Epstein Barr viruses in the gastric mucosa was determined.
 Results. The clinical heterogeneity of chronic gastritis in children with the allocation of four topical variants was established: isolated duodenitis, duodenogastritis, antrum gastritis, pangastritis. It was found that with the first two, a high frequency of giardiasis is registered, with antrumgastritis and especially pangastritis, a significant contamination of the gastric mucosa with Hp is detected, mainly of CagA and VacA-positive strains. It is proved that the persistence of the type 6 human herpes virus does not affect the severity of inflammation, while the presence of the Epstein-Barr virus increases it. Colonization of the gastric mucosa by highly pathogenic Hp strains significantly increases the severity and activity of inflammation. It is shown that atrophy of the gastric mucosa in children is uncertain, and true atrophic gastritis occurs only in 0.61 % of cases.
 Conclusions. Chronic gastritis in children is a heterogeneous pathology, and its individual variants differ significantly in etiological factors including infectious, pathogenetic mechanisms and features of the morphology of gastric mucosa. This should be taken into account when carrying out medical support for patients.