ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To compare clinical and bacteriologic efficacy of two therapeutic trials to eradicate Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in two series of pediatric patients with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: n = 36 children with RAP-associated H. pylori infection. Age 9.8 +/- 3.1 years, 19 boys and 17 girls. Clinical and bacteriologic efficacy of two therapeutic trials was compared: Group A (1996-1997), n = 9, amoxicillin, bismuth subsalicilate, and metronidazol, and group B (1991-1993), n = 27, omeprazol, amoxicillin, and clarithromycin. Initially and post-treatment, H. pylori evaluation was carried out with upper endoscopy and gastric biopsies. For statistics, we used Student t test, chi2, Fisher test, and Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance (alpha = 0.05). RESULTS: We found that 33/36 cases had gastritis at endoscopy, two with duodenal ulcer; nodular gastritis was observed in more than one half of total cases. All cases fulfilled histologic criteria of gastritis according to Sydney Score. In group A eradication was achieved in 28.6%, while in group B eradication rose to 77.8% (p < 0.05). In group A, 8/9 and in group B 15/27 persisted with RAP (p = 0.113). CONCLUSIONS: High frequency of abnormal and histologic findings was observed in the series presented on children with RAP and H. pylori. Eradication efficacy in the omeprazol/amoxicillin/clarithromycin group was higher when compared with bismuth subsalicilate/amoxicillin/metronidazol trial. This efficacy is comparable to pediatric series treated with the same therapeutic trial.
