A comparative study on Helicobacter pylori infection in peptic ulcer disease patients with or without previous eradication therapy

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although H. pyloric eradication therapy is indicated for peptic ulcer patients, the prevalence of H. pylori infection may be different between patients with active or chronic (scarred) peptic ulcers. This study aimed to compare the prevalence of H. pylori infection in active and chronic peptic ulcer patients with or without previous H. pyloric eradication therapy. METHODOLOGY: Both non-invasive (13C or 14C urea breath test) and invasive methods (rapid urease test and histology) were used to detect H. pylori. From Dec. 2002 to Jan. 2003, 153 patients with 63% male were enrolled in this study. Fifty-six patients who previously received H. pyloric eradication therapy were enrolled as treated patients, and 97 patients who did not receive therapy were enrolled as untreated patients. RESULTS: H. pylori infection rate was still high in untreated patients even when duodenal ulcer had been scarred (96% in active duodenal ulcer and 63% in scarred duodenal ulcer). In treated patients, H. pyloric infected rates were very low when peptic ulcers were scarred (0% in scarred gastric ulcer, 4% in scarred duodenal ulcer and 0% in both scarred ulcers). CONCLUSIONS: H. pyloric eradication therapy is indicated for untreated patients even when endoscopic examination revealed chronic scarred duodenal ulcer.