[Semiquantitative culture of Campylobacter pylori in gastroduodenal disorder].

Results of semiquantitative culture of the gastric mucosa for Campylobacter pylori (C. pylori) are reported. The samples were obtained by biopsy at the pyloric antrum along the lesser curvature from 197 patients with various gastric or duodenal disorders. 1) C. pylori was found in most cases with duodenal ulcer (100%), gastric ulcer (87.7%) and acute gastric mucosal lesion (AGML) (87.5%). Relatively heavy infestation was usual in these diseases, while relatively small amounts of the organism were found in various frequencies in other gastroduodenal disorders. 2) Samples from gastric ulcer cases under H2-blocker treatment had reduced amount of C. pylori as compared with those from untreated cases (p less than 0.01). C. pylori decreased in quantity in each case of AGML after successful treatment with a H2-blocker but not in a case without favorable response. 3) C. pylori distributed evenly among the gastric mucosa sampled at the margin of the ulcer and that at a relatively healthy portion in the pyloric antrum of the same stomach. 4) There was a modest, positive correlation between the amount of C. pylori and that of inflammatory cells, especially of neutrophilic granulocyte, in the gastric mucosa (r = 0.679), while there was a weak, negative correlation between the former and the extent of intestinal metaplasia of the epithelial cells (r = -0.479). 5) Quantitative rather than qualitative observation of C. pylori seems mandatory for considering the relevance of the bacterium to gastric and duodenal disorders. Although C. pylori can be found in the mucosa of the stomach with any type of disorder, its quantity tends to parallel with the activity of duodenal as well as gastric ulcer.