[Clinico-endoscopic and morphometric characteristics of gastric and duodenal mucosa in children with dermatomyositis]. / Kliniko-éndoskopicheskaia i morfometricheskaia kharakteristika slizistoi obolochki zheludka i dvenadtsatiperstnoi kishki u detei s dermatomiozitom.

A total of 53 patients with dermatomyositis aged 4-14 with the disease duration of three months to eight years were under observation. Twenty seven patients complained of stomach-ache, II felt pain during palpation, 30 lost appetite. Electrogastrography revealed disorders in bioelectric activity of the stomach muscles in 99.9% of the patients. Endoscopic studies revealed lesions in the stomach and duodenum in all the patients, in 39 of them gastroduodenitis in the stage of exacerbation was diagnosed, in 7 erosion, in 3 peptic and duodenal ulcer. In 81.3% of the children during clinico-laboratory remission of dermatomyositis gastroduodenitis persisted at the stage of exacerbation. The vessels lying in the mucosa of the antral area of the stomach and duodenum underwent peculiar changes: arterial walls looked thickened, nuclei of the endothelial cells were enlarged, rounded up. One could observe infiltrates around the vessels consisting mainly of lymphocytes. Morphometric indices of the mucosa were also different in the antral area of the stomach and duodenum. Apparently, changes revealed in the gastric and duodenal mucosa of children with dermatomyositis occur due to vascular processes developing as a result of the main disease. This should be taken into consideration in the treatment of such children.