Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) causes gastritis, and may be associated with gastric and duodenal ulcers and also with such malignant diseases as MALT lymphoma and gastric carcinoma. In order to determine whether there are differences in the degree and distribution of gastritis, each patient with H. pylori gastritis only (n = 50) was matched for sex and age with four patients, one each with H. pylori-associated duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer, gastric carcinoma or MALT lymphoma. From each patient, two biopsies were taken from the antrum and two from the corpus for histopathological examination of H. pylori gastritis. The median summed gastritis score decreases in the following order: antrum: gastric ulcer > duodenal ulcer > gastritis alone > carcinoma > MALT lymphoma, and corpus: gastric ulcer > carcinoma > MALT lymphoma > gastritis alone and duodenal ulcer. We conclude that the degree and distribution of H. pylori gastritis differs significantly among H. pylori-associated diseases. These differences may explain some of the underlying pathomechanisms associated with H. pylori infection.
