Incidence of H. pylori in upper GI endoscopy biopsies: Prospective and retrospective study with emphasis on special staining method

Background: The present study includes retrospective and prospective study of 80 cases over a period of 5 years in Department of Pathology, MGM Medical College, Navi Mumbai. A total of 80 upper GI endoscopic biopsies were obtained from patients ranging between the age of 18-65 years with complaints of chronic upper abdominal symptoms, who were not suffering from active GI bleed, not on NSAIDS, not suffering from any systemic disease, who were nonalcoholic or patients who underwent major Gastroduodenal surgery. The aim of study was to study the incidence of in upper GI endoscopic biopsies. Identification of H. pylori with routine and special stains is to evaluate and correlate commonest symptoms of H. pylori infected patients and to study the age and sex distribution in H. pylori infection. We found 51 (63.8%) H. pylori positive cases and 29 (36.3%) H. pylori negative cases. This study was useful in diagnosing H. pylori in various gastric lesions. Routine H&E stain when supplemented with special stains like Warthin Starry, Modified Giemsa and Toluidine Blue helped in prompt identification of the pathogen, thereby alleviate the symptoms and prevent its sequelae. This study highlights the importance of incidence, endoscopic biopsies and identification of the bacilli, various gastric lesions and good comparison between different staining techniques such as H&E, Toluidine Blue, Modified Giemsa and Warthin Starry. It also includes the correlation of the endoscopic findings with histopathological interpretation of the endoscopic biopsies and also the analysis of the histopathological findings.