Abstract
Background and Objectives: The main etiology of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) is still unknown. Recently, it has been suggested that Helicobacter pylori might be a cause of IHPS on the basis of its epidemiologic and clinical features. We performed this study to evaluate the possible relationship between IHPS and H. pylori.
Materials and Methods: In a case-control study, 20 infants with definite diagnosis of IHPS referred to Tabriz Children’s Hospital were evaluated during an 18-month period. Thirty otherwise healthy sex and age-matched infants were randomly recruited as the control. Serum antibody against H. pylori (IgG) was measured by serological method in infants and their mothers. Furthermore, stool H. pylori antigen was evaluated by ELISA in the infants.
Results: Twenty infants with IHPS, 18 males and 2 females with a mean age of 42.40±19.09 days and 30 controls, with a mean age of 44.67±12.65 days were enrolled (P>0.05). In the case group, 18.2% of the infants had positive H. pylori infection comparing with 23.1% of the controls (P=1). All the mothers of the case group had positive H. pylori infection comparing with 95.8% of those of the control group (P=1). Considering a simultaneous infection of H. pylori, 18.2% of the mothers and infants of the case group had positive H. pylori infection comparing with 33.3% of the mothers and infants in the control group (P=0.617). The mean titer of infant serum H. pylori antibody was comparable between the two groups (14.21±8.18 ng/dl vs. 11.80±19.07 ng/dl in the case and control groups, respectively; P=0.342). On the other hand, mean stool antigen was significantly higher in the case infants (1.74±4.59 ng/dl vs. 0.62±0.44 ng/dl; P=0.010).
Conclusion: According to our results, there might not be a connection between H. pylori infection and IHPS in infants.