Histopathological Patterns of Gastric Mucosal Biopsies in Dyspepsia – A Study of 550 Cases

ABSTRACT

Objective: Dyspepsia is a common condition which is seen in the medical outpatient department. Helicobacter pylori is the causal agent in most of the cases of gastritis and peptic ulceration. This is a retrospective study aimed to study the histological patterns in gastric biopsy from patients with complaints of dyspepsia.Methods: In this study, a total of 550 biopsy samples from patients with a clinical history of dyspepsia which were received at the department of histopathology were analyzed. The biopsy samples were procured in Bouin’s fixative and were paraffin embedded. Sections were taken and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. May-Grunwald-Giemsa stain was used to visualize H. pylori. Alcian blue stain was used to identify intestinal metaplasia.Results: It was observed that 194 (35.2%) cases showed features of chronic gastritis without H. pylori infection. H. pylori was noted in a total of 296 cases (53.8%) among which 256 cases (46.5%) showed features of chronic gastritis, 28 cases (5.09%) showed active gastritis, and 12 cases (2.2%) showed features of chronic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia.Conclusions: Chronic gastritis is a common condition worldwide. Chronic infection with H. pylori accounts for the majority of cases of chronic gastritis.