Characteristics of gastric inflammation in patients diagnosed as functional dyspepsia with rome III criteria

Functional dyspepsia is a clinical syndrome characterized by several symptom complexes including various pathophysiological mechanisms in its etiology. Rome III committee proposed to define functional dyspepsia at two categories as epigastric pain syndrome (EPS) and postprandial discomfort syndrome (PDS). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between subcategories of functional dyspepsia and histopathological changes in gastric mucosa.50 patients (41 females, 9 males; mean age 38,0+/-9,6) diagnosed as functional dyspepsia with Rome III criteria were included into the study. Histological changes in gastric mucosa were evaluated with the updated Sydney System. Clinically, symptoms were graded according to their effects on daily activities according to a four-point scale.13 patients were diagnosed with Rome III criteria as EPS, 14 patients as PDS and 23 patients as overlap with EPS and PDS. There were no differences between groups in the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and the histopathological changes in gastric mucosa. In overall group frequency of H. pylori infection was 90%. All patients had chronic gastritis and in 36 cases (72%) chronic gastritis were active. Density of H. pylori showed significant correlation with neutrophilic activity and chronic inflammation in all different topography (respectively, antrum, r=0,694, p<0,001; corpus, r=0,679, p<0,001; angulus, r=0,682, p<0,001 ve antrum, r=0,453, p=0,001; corpus r=0,288, p<0,042; angulus, r=0,484, p<0,001). There were no significant differences in symptom scores for severity of histopathological changes in gastric mucosa.Consequently, characteristics of chronic gastritis in EPS and PDS patients as subcategories of functional dyspepsia are not distinctive.