In clinical practice, the concept of "gastriitis" is used for not only histologic gastritis but also functional dyspepsia in Japan. Histologic gastritis induced by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a major risk factor for peptic ulcer disease, gastric cancer, and primary gastric lymphoma. On the other hand, there is a negative association between H. pylori infection and reflux esophagitis. After H. pylori eradication therapy, the prevalence of reflux esophagitis is increasing.
Although histologic examination using biopsy specimens is the most important method to diagnose gastritis, there are several non-invasive methods including H. pylori infection, serum pepsinogens or anti-parietal cell antibodies. In general, H2-blocker or prokinetic is used for the treatment of gastritis. However, H. pylori eradication therapy is the best treatment for the complete improvement of histologic gastritis. Although whether H. pylori eradication will improve atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia or not is controversial, recent data have indicated the possibillity of the improvement of gastric atrophy by curing H. pylori infection.
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