A 15-year-old boy with abdominal pain, growth retardation, and anemia secondary to Helicobacter pylori-associated peptic ulcer.

A 15-year-old boy with abdominal pain, growth retardation, and symptomatic anemia requiring blood transfusion was seen by a gastroenterologist and found to have a large ulcerated, fungating, and actively bleeding mass in his stomach. Initially, the patient was screened for Helicobacter pylori and found to be negative, so there was concern for malignancy after multiple endoscopic procedures. The patient did not respond to initial ulcer treatment and immediately prior to scheduled partial gastrectomy, additional tissue sections from the initial biopsy were stained for H. pylori and rare positive staining organisms were found. The test was positive, and the patient was started empirically on treatment to which he responded and ultimately recovered fully. Gastrectomy was not performed, and following treatment, the ulcer, anemia, and poor growth resolved.