Background/Aims: Low local acid production is considered to be an important
factor for Helicobacter pylori colonization. The increased bacterial densi
ty and inflammation are expected in cardiac mucosa because of low acid secr
etion. We aimed to investigate the bacterial density and the histologic pat
tern of gastritis in the cardia, and to compare with those of the antrum an
d corpus.
Methodology: The biopsy specimens taken from the antrum, corpus and cardia.
in 97 patients during endoscopy were examined histopathologically.
Results: The mean scores for bacterial density in the cardia, corpus and an
trum. were 1.32 +/-0.35, 1.09 +/-0.86, 1.42 +/-0.97, respectively. Bacteria
l density of the cardia was significantly higher than that in corpus, but w
as similar to the antrum. The mean scores for the degree of gastritis in th
e cardia, corpus and antrum were 1.56 +/-0.79, 1.64 +/-0.75, 1.85 +/-0.77,
respectively. Gastritis was significantly more severe in the antrum than in
the corpus and cardia. The activity scores of gastritis in the three regio
ns were statistically similar.
Conclusions: Although bacterial density in the cardiac mucosa were found to
be high, the degree of gastritis was low.