Diagnostic Utility of Nodular Gastritis in Children with Chronic Abdominal Pain Undergoing Endoscopy

This study was aimed to describe the endoscopic picture and laboratory findings in children with chronic abdominal pain and to determine the utility of nodular gastritis in diagnosing HPI in these patients. This prospective study was done between November, 2004 and May, 2007. A total of 70 patients (36 male and 34 female) aged 3-14 years, underwent upper endoscopy. H-pylori infection was diagnosed when both urease test and histology were positive for the infection. Seventy percent (n = 49) of them were diagnosed to have endoscopic nodular gastritis. HPI was confirmed in 33 (47.1%) of 70 patients. The endoscopic antral nodularity had a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 56.8%, positive predictive value of 67.3%, negative predictive value of 100% and a positive LR of 2.32 for diagnosis of HPI. It may be recommended that if nodular gastritis observed in a pediatric patient with chronic abdominal pain he/she should be investigated to exclude HPI otherwise no further work up is necessary to confirm HPI.