Pak J Med Sci 2009 Vol. 25 No. 5 www.pjms.com.pk 849 Original Article IS BIOPSY NEEDED IN EVERY GASTRITIS FOUND DURING ENDOSCOPY? Muhammad Zubair 1 , Muhammad Ali Channa 2 , Masoom Raza Mirza 3 , Lubna Habib 4 ABSTRACT Objective: To find out concordance between endoscopic and histological diagnosis of gastritis in dyspeptic patients. Met hodology: All dyspeptic patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with endoscopic diagnosis of gastritis and available biopsy report from July 2006 to June 2008 in Hamdard Medical University Hospital and different private hospitals of Karachi were included in this study. The endoscopist formed a global impression on the presence or otherwise of gastritis according to the Sydney System. Patients with ulcer, growth and any other endoscopic diagnosis apart from gastritis were excluded. With standard biopsy forceps, minimum of two gastric biopsies from inflamed mucosa were taken for histological evidence of gastritis. Result s: Total 112 patients (44 males and 68 females) were included in the study with mean age of 41.95 years. Most common symptom experienced by patients was epigastric discomfort in 103 (92%) of patients. In all patients endoscopic diagnosis was gastritis. Biopsy reports showed chronic gastritis in 109 (97.3%) patients. Conclusion: There is good concordance of endoscopic findings of gastritis with histological evidence of gastritis and thus biopsy is not required in every case of gastritis. KEYWORDS: Endoscopic gastritis, Dyspepsia, Biopsy, Histology. Pak J Med Sci October - Decmber 2009 (Part-I) Vol. 25 No. 5 849-851 How to cite this article: Zubair M, Channa MA, Mirza MR, Habib L. Is biopsy needed in every gastritis found during endoscopy? Pak J Med Sci 2009;25(5):849-851. INTRODUCTION Dyspepsia is a common condition that is reported from 19% to 41% of the general popu- lation. 1 About one out of every four subjects with dyspepsia consults his general practitioner and these accounts for 1-4% of all consultations in primary care. 2,3 Dyspepsia is defined as an up- per gastrointestinal symptom complex charac- terized by epigastric pain or discomfort and may include heartburn, acid regurgitation, excessive burping/belching, abdominal bloating, feeling of abnormal or slow digestion, early satiety or nausea. 4 Management requires whether to arrange initial investigation by endoscopy or barium X-ray before starting therapy, to ‘test and eradicate’ Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection or to start empirical symptomatic 1. Dr. Muhammad Zubair, FCPS, FRCS Senior Registrar, Surgical Unit IV, Dow University of Health Sciences and Civil Hospital, Karachi - Pakistan. 2. Dr. Muhammad. Ali Channa, FCPS Senior Registrar, 3. Dr. Masoom Raza Mirza, FRCS Associat e Prof essor, 4. Dr. Lubna Habib, FCPS Assi st ant Pr of essor, 2-4: Hamdard College of Medicine & Dentistry, Hamdard University Hospital, Karachi - Pakistan. Correspondence Dr. Muhammad Zubair, FCPS, FRCS Email: drmzubair@hotmail.com * Received for Publication: April 6, 2009 * Revision Received: September 5, 2009 * Revisions Accepted: September 7, 2009