HELICOBACTER-PYLORI-ASSOCIATED CHRONIC ANTRAL GASTRITIS IN KUWAIT - AHISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY

In order to study the causal relationship between Helicobacter pylori (HP) and various inflammatory reactions in gastric antral mucosa, we h ave reviewed 268 endoscopic gastric biopsies in the Department of Path ology of Mubarak Al-Kabeer Teaching Hospital in Kuwait. Of the 219 HP- positive biopsies, 95.4% showed chronic gastritis (CG), 59.8% active c hronic gastritis (ACG) and 78.5% lymphoid hyperplasia(LH). The prevale nce of LH, CG or ACG, either alone or in combination, increased with i ncreasing density (grade) of HP colonization, assuming statistical sig nificance for LH and ACG (P<0.05), especially when these changes in Gr ade 1 HP cases were compared to those of Grades 2 and 3 combined, More over, the grade of LH by itself also showed statistically significant correlation (P<0.01) with the grade of inflammation. Our results confi rm a causal relationship between HP colonization of gastric mucosa and the various forms of gastritis, and also provide evidence in support of induction of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) by HP, an obs ervation which may have significance in the genesis of gastric MALToma s.