| Abstract: | This preliminary study attempted to test whetherpretreatment gastric histology of H. pylori infectionmay affect the success of dual therapy and to identifywhich parameter of gastric histology could be improved after dual therapy. One hundredforty-five dyspeptic patients with H. pylori infectionreceived a two-week course of dual therapy (Amoxicillin500 mg every 6 hr plus omeprazole 20 mg twice a day). In each patient, three pairs of gastricbiopsies, sampled from the antrum, lower body, and upperbody near the cardia, were collected before treatmentand four weeks after completion of dual therapy. The density of H. pylori (score 1-5) and parametersof the modified Sydney system were applied to test theseverity of H. pylori-related gastric histology in eachspecimen. The total bacterial load (score 1-15) was a sum of the density of H. pylorisampled from three biopsies. The overall rate of H.pylori eradication rate by dual therapy is 73.1%(106/145). Univariate analysis of parameters inpretreatment histology disclosed that the presence ofmucosal atrophy (P < 0.01), lymphoid follicles (P< 0.005), and higher-density H. pylori (P < 0.001)predisposed to dual therapy failure. Multivariateanalysis by stepwise logistic regression further confirmed that boththe density of bacteria and the presence of lymphoidfollicles are the two major factors related to theoutcome of dual therapy (P < 0.001). Four weeks after dual therapy was completed, only patients withsuccessful eradication significantly improved in thesegastric histology parameters: acute activity, chronicinflammation, eosinophil infiltration, and mucosal atrophy. However, the lymphoid follicle andintestinal metaplasia were not significantly improvedduring the study period. The eradication rates amongthree subgroups with different total bacterial loads (group I: 1-5; II: 6-10; III: 11-15) discloseda downward trend (I: 89.1%; II: 73%; III: 52.7%). It isconcluded that dual therapy could improve gastrichistology especially among patients with successful eradication of H. pylori. Evaluatingpretreatment histologic parameters, including thedensity of H. pylori and the presence of lymphoidfollicles, is valuable in predicting the success of dualtherapy. |
