title: Evaluation of acid gastric secretion with 24-hour pH-metry in patients with acute and chronic hepatitis induced by HBV.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute and chronic diseases of the liver often coexist with functional disorders and pathological changes in the stomach. Lavish data indicate greatly higher incidence of ulcerations and gastric erosions in patients with various hepatopathies. Due to considerable discrepancies in the assessment of acid gastric secretion, an attempt has been made to evaluate this phenomenon with 24-hour pH-metry in patients with acute and chronic HBV.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study material consisted of two equal groups of patients with dyspepsia--12 subjects with acute HBV and 12 subjects with chronic HBV, as well as 15 healthy volunteers forming a control group. At enrollment, the patients over 65 years of age were excluded from the study as well as those with chronic diseases, with the history of surgery in gastrointestinal tract and the subjects treated with the medicines affecting gastric secretion. All the patients underwent pH-metry with the use of DL70 pH-meter with a glass electrode. Median pH (Me) and mean pH (Arith. mean) obtained during 24 hours were used in the analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The following results were obtained: Me = 1.57, Arith. mean = 1.97 in control group, Me = 2.57, Arith. mean = 3.12 in patients with acute HBV, Me = 1.47, Arith. mean = 1.77 in patients with chronic HBV. On the basis of the statistical analysis, no statistically significant differences in gastric secretion determined with the help of 24-hour pH-metry were found between the analysed groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with acute and chronic HBV do not display statistically significant differences in gastric secretion determined with the help of 24-hour pH-metry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Medical University in Gdańsk, ul. M. Smoluchowskiego 18, 80-214 Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Orłowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005744:Gastric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000378:metabolism*; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors