Role of gastritis pattern on Helicobacter pylori eradication

Helicobacter pylori eradication rate following standard triple therapy is decreasing. Identification of predictive factors of therapy success would be useful for H. pylori management in clinical practice. This study aimed to evaluate the role of different gastritis patterns on the efficacy of the currently suggested 14-day triple therapy regimen. One-hundred and seventeen, consecutive, non-ulcer dyspeptic patients, with H. pylori infection diagnosed at endoscopy, were enrolled. All patients received a 14-day, triple therapy with lansoprazole 30 mg, clarithromycin 500 mg and amoxicillin 1 g, all given twice daily. Bacterial eradication was assessed with C-13-urea breath test 4-6 weeks after completion of therapy. H. pylori infection was cured in 70.1% at ITT analysis and 83.7% at PP analysis. The eradication rate tended to be lower in patients with corpus-predominant gastritis as compared to those with antral-predominant gastritis at both ITT (66.1 vs 74.5%) and PP (80.4 vs 87.2%) analyses. The multivariate analysis failed to identify factors associated with therapy success. However, 14-day triple therapy does not achieve acceptable H. pylori cure rate in Italy, and should be not recommended in clinical practice.