Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in Brazilian patients with gastric carcinoma.

Investigators have speculated on the role of Helicobacter pylori in gastric carcinogenesis. The current study was performed to evaluate prospectively the prevalence of H. pylori infection in the stomachs of Brazilian patients with gastric carcinoma. Forty patients receiving gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma were studied. H. pylori was examined in four areas without atrophy or with minor atrophic changes. Mucosal fragments were obtained for microbiologic studies in 19 cases. H. pylori was detected in 82.5% of the cases. Of the cases evaluated by histologic and microbiologic methods, 94% had positive results by at least one method. In most cases there were small numbers of microorganisms. There was no correlation between the site and histologic type of neoplasia and the presence of H. pylori. The use of more than one diagnostic method improves H. pylori detection in gastric carcinoma. The small number of microorganisms observed in gastric carcinoma cases may lead to an underestimate of H. pylori in histologic sections. This might explain the variation in H. pylori infection rates reported for patients with gastric carcinoma.