[Primary peptic ulcer in childhood: apropos of 16 cases].

We report a retrospective review of primary peptic ulcer disease in 16 children, 8 boys and 8 girls between 2 and 14 years of age, seen at our hospital over a 4 years and 4 months period. Endoscopy was realized in all children and revealed 7 duodenal ulcers (DU) and 11 gastric ulcers (GU) (two patients had both locations). At the initial diagnosis 5 patients were less than 6 years old with a ratio GU/DU of 4:1; in the other patients this ratio was 1:1. In children with duodenal ulcer 56.5% of them had positive family history. The commonest presenting symptoms were abdominal pain (87.5%) and acute gastrointestinal bleeding (68.7%). The follow-up period ranged from 2 to 52 months; in 13 cases follow-up was more than 1 year. Four patients (3 DU and 1 GU) older than 6 years recurred.