Grading Helicobacter pylori gastritis in dyspeptic patients

Helicobacter pylori-like organisms (Hp) and polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs) in 2614 gastroduodenal biopsies from 602 patients with dyspepsia, in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, between October 1990 and October 1992, were histologically graded to determine the prevalence of Hp gastritis and their utilization in the evaluation of treatment efficacy in these patients. Symptoms of functional dyspepsia included, in order of frequency, abdominal pain or discomfort, flatulence, burning sensation, regurgitation, fullness, nausea, vomiting, bloating and belching. The biopsies were paraffin embedded, sectioned and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) to grade the inflammation. In addition to H and E, several special stains including modified Giemsa (MG), Wharthin-Starry silver and cold Ziehl-Neelsen stains were utilized to clearly identify Hp organisms. Giemsa method was found to be superior to other special stains in visualizing the Hp organisms in paraffin sections, and was utilized in every case. Two immunohistochemical markers for B cells (CD20) and T cells (CD45RO) were utilized for labeling lymphocytes infiltrating the lamina propria of the gastroduodenal biopsies in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections. H and E and MG stained sections were utilized to count PMNs and Hp, and were graded 0, 1, 2, and 3, corresponding to none, mild, moderate, and severe grades of the Sydney system for classification of gastritis, respectively. Of the total initial 2318 endoscopic biopsies, 98.8% of the patients had suitable biopsies for histologic evaluation. Unsuitable biopsies were recovered from patients with gastric carcinoma. Inflammation was seen in 98.5% of 595 patients with suitable biopsies. In 74.5% of these patients the inflammation was active; 37.5, 32.5 and 4.5% had mild, moderate and severe active inflammation, respectively. In the remaining 24% of the 595 patients, the gastritis was chronic without activity or atrophic changes. As many as 73.6% of the patients with suitable biopsies were Hp positive; 39.8, 29.1 and 4.7% had grades 1, 2 and 3 Hp, respectively. Intestinal metaplasia was found in 28.9% of the 602 patients, and was seen more often in Hp positive than Hp negative patients (34.5 vs 14%, P < 0.005, for d.f. = 1; chi 2 = 10.35). Of the Hp positive patients, 172 and 46 patients attended the first and second follow-up endoscopy visits, respectively. The triple treatment was composed of one dose of tinidazole (2gm), doxycycline, 200 mg initial dose and 100 mg daily for two weeks, and bismuth subcitrate (Gist-Brocades nv, Delft, The Netherlands), 2 tablets twice daily for 4 weeks. After triple drug treatment, eradication of Hp was accomplished, histologically, in 38.4 and 45.7% of the patients on first and second follow-up visits, respectively. Thus, the Sydney system-based grading scale provides an objective histological evaluation of Hp gastritis for accurate prevalence studies, and may prove to be of value in estimating treatment efficacy.