Gastritis and peptic ulcer disease in childhood

Inflammation of the gastric and duodenal mucosa is the end result of an imb alance between mucosal defensive and aggressive factors. The degree of infl ammation and imbalance between defensive and aggressive factors can then re sult in varying degrees of gastritis and/or frank mucosal ulceration. Gastr itis and ulcers of the duodenum or stomach can be classified either as prim ary or secondary. The majority of children with chronic active or chronic g astritis and ulcers in the stomach or duodenum have secondary inflammation or mucosal ulceration. These ulcers generally occur due to a systemic condi tion like head trauma or overwhelming sepsis, or, as sequelae to drug inges tion (i.e., non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents), but secondary gastrodu odenal ulcers can also occur in specific disease conditions such as Zolling er-Ellison syndrome or Crohn's disease. The different causes of gastritis a nd peptic ulcer disease will be discussed in this paper. Conclusion In almost all children presenting to their treating pediatric ga stroenterologist with duodenal or gastric ulcers of these patients, mucosal inflammation and less frequently, ulceration is caused by a spiral shaped, Gram-negative, microaerobic rod, properly named Helicobacter pylori. Recen t epidemiological evidence has linked chronic H. pylori infection with the development of gastric carcinomas.