determination of relative frequency of mast cells and eosinophils in gastric mucosa biopsies in children with recurrent abdominal pain and normal endoscopy

abstract background numerous disorders can cause recurrent abdominal pain. many of these cases underwent endoscopy and clinician encounters patients with history of recurrent abdominal pain and normal endoscopy. we evaluated these biopsies with regard to their eosinophils and mast cell densities to find out a potential relationship between recurrent abdominal pain with eosinophils and mast cell densities in children. materials and methods this is a retrospective cross-sectional study. fifty eight children with recurrent abdominal pain were evaluated following endoscopy. two forceps biopsy was taken from each patient and then following routine histological evaluation, eosinophils and mast cells counts were performed. a questionnaire was filled for each patient, including clinical, endoscopic and pathologic findings. data collected were statistically analyzed using spss, version 16. results fifty eight patients (31 girls and 27 boys) fulfilled the entrance criteria (ages7.19±3.1 years). the mean eosinophils density in 1-6 year-old group was more than 7-12 year-old group(3.52±4.67 vs 1.59±1.9)(p=0.04).the mean mast cells density in 7-12 year-old group was more than 1-6 year-old group(6.48±5.17 vs 3.9±3.14)(p=0.02). in boys the mean eosinophils density was higher than that of girls (3.56±5.07 vs 1.6±1.22) (p=0.05). with regard to microscopic findings, the greatest eosinophilic density belonged to normal histology (2.66±4.13). conclusion increased gastric eosinophils and mast cell densities are a common finding in children with abdominal pain and normal endoscopy. however, further studies are needed to determine the significance of eosinophils and mast cells activation in the disease process or symptom generation.