[A quantitative diagnosis of chronic gastritis]

To explore a definite diagnostic criterion of chronic gastritis, we undertook a quantitative study of the gastric biopsy specimens taken from 131 subjects. Seven stages were classified from normal gastric mucosa to mild, moderate and severe superficial and atrophic gastritis. The results shown the number of inflammatory cell was much greater in the mild superficial gastritis (128 +/- 84.37/HP) than in normal gastric mucosa (22 +/- 10.54HP, P less than 0.001). In these stages, the numbers of pyloric and fundic gland progressively decreased, the size of the gastric gland gradually enlarged and the percentage of intestinal metaplasia by degrees increased. According to these, we establish the quantitative diagnostic criterion of chronic gastritis.