Helicobacter pylori infection: susceptibilty to antimicrobials and eradication rate in pluritreated pangastritis patients

Aim of our study was to evaluate the utility of the culture and the subsequent susceptibility testing in a group of 100 pluritreated patients with pangastritis undergone several therapy cycles. Out of 100 patients, culture and susceptibility testing was obtained in 62 patients (62%) whereas in 38 (38%) no H. pylori growth was detected. The culture-positive group was treated following the antibiogram results whereas the culture-negative group was empirically treated. In the first group, the eradication rate was 77% (48/62) whereas in the second group, 32/38 subjects (84%) were eradicated with empirical or standard therapy. The eradication rate of the patients with antrum prevalent pangastritis was higher than in the patients with corpus-fundus or diffuse pangastritis (96%, 75% and 61% respectively). The difference between the two groups (77% and 84% respectively; p=0.72), even if not statistically significant demonstrates that a successful eradication can be achieved even without antibiogram.