Eradication of helicobacter pylori after surgical or medical treatment of duodenal ulcer and its relation to relapse

ABSTRACT

Forty four selected ulcer patients invariably positive for Helicobacter pylori were included in this this study, 14 patients were subjected to surgical treatment by truncal vagotomy and gastrojujenostomy. Eight of these 14 became H. Pylori negative postoperatively after healing of the ulcer. No single ulcer relapse was observed among those 8 patients during a 12 months follow up period, while the relapse rate was high in the 5 patients who remained H. Pylori positive postoperatively. The remaining 30 patients were treated medically using colloidal Bismuth Subcitrate [CBS] with or without antibiotics. It was observed that the patients who received amoxycillin and metronidazole in addition to CBS showed a higher cure rate [13/14]and no ulcer relapse. The results of this study indicate that eradication of H. pylori by antibioics may help to increase the cure rate and decrease ulcer recurrence. Thus it may be advisable to add one or more antibiotics to eradicate H. pylori whether medical or surgical regimen is used for management of duodenal ulcer