Background: Helicobacter pylori infection frequency in hematemesis was scarcely studied.
Aim: to asses the frequency of this infection in children with upper gastrointestinal bleeding and to study the endoscopic and histological features.
Methods: It is a retrospective study including 180 children who underwent an endoscopy for upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Our population was divided in two groups. The group 1 (n=95) has performed gastric biopsy. The group 2 (n=95) has'nt performed gastric biopsy. For each group, we studied the personal and familial history of gastroenterologic disease, the hospital where they come from, the importance of bleeding, the drug intake effecting the gastric mucosa, the endoscopic and histological features.
Results: The helicobacter pylori infection was present in 48% of the children. The mean age of these children was 99.8 +/- 42.1 months versus 95.7 +/- 44 months (p=0.13) The comparison of the two groups according to Hp infection, and the others parameters don't found any differences. All the infected children have chronic gastritis 40/40 versus 13/44 in the non infected children (p>10 -6).
Conclusion: The frequency of Hp infection was high in this group of patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding. It was probably underestimated because the investigation was not complete. We emphasize that Hp infection has to be investigated and systematically eradicated whenever there were severe symptoms like hematemesis indicating therefore organic disease.