Gastritis, associated or not by Helicobacter Pylori (HP) infection, consists a common cause of upper gastrointestinal symptomatology in children. The aim of the present study was to investigate a possible correlation of serum PGI levels to gastritis in children. The studv comprised 98 symptomatic and 41 asymptomatic children divided in 5 groups. A: 54(10.5±2yrs) with HP gastritis, B: 13(11±1.2yrs) after eradication of HP, C: 25 (10±2.2yrs) with gastritis without HP, D: 19 (9.4±2yrs) with normal gastric biopsy and E: 41 asymptomatic (9.1±1.5yrs). Children of groups A, B, C, D underwent upper endoscopy and HP detection by histology, CLO test and serum antibodies to HP. Serum PGI was estimated once in all groups, while it was repeated in group B. Statistics were performed by analysis of variance. Results are as follow:Table

Table 1
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It is concluded that in children with HP gastritis, serum PGI levels are increased compared to those of children with HP negative gastritis, as well as after eradication of HP, and controls. PGI levels could be used as a supplementary marker of active HP gastritis and its response to treatment.