Gastric metaplasia and Helicobacter pylori infection.

Duodenal and antral mucosal biopsy specimens were obtained from 139 patients with dyspeptic complaints to study the prevalence and extent of gastric metaplasia in the duodenal bulb in relation to Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection and duodenal ulcer disease. On logistic regression, the presence and extent of gastric metaplasia was not significantly associated with H pylori infection. The prevalence of gastric metaplasia, however, was found to be higher in patients with current or past evidence of duodenal ulcer disease in comparison with subjects with functional dyspepsia (p = 0.01). A follow up study on 22 patients before and at least one year after eradication of H pylori showed that the mean extent of gastric metaplasia did not change significantly after eradication and did not differ when compared with 21 patients with persisting infection. It is concluded that the unchanged gastric acid output after eradication of H pylori is a more important factor in the development of gastric metaplasia than the H pylori related inflammatory process.