Effectiveness of ranitidine bismuth citrate based triple therapy for treating Helicobacter pylori.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy, safety and tolerance of a one week regimen of RBC, clarithromycin, and amoxicillin for H. pylori eradication in Thai patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Patients who were undergoing endoscopy for dyspeptic symptoms. On the day of endoscopy, three biopsies were taken for H. pylori diagnosis. The patients who had the presence of H. pylori infection by positive from rapid urease test or histologic examination were invited to take part in an open, prospective study. Patients received a combination of RBC 400 mg, clarithromycin 500 mg, and amoxicillin 1 g twice daily for 7 days. Repeated endoscopy was performed to evaluate H. pylori eradication at least 1 month after the end of treatment. Clinical symptoms, side effects and compliance were assessed by interview during the study and at follow-up. RESULTS: Thirty nine patients with H. pylori infection were included. Male and female rates was 2712 with a mean age of 42.8 +/- 11.4 years (range 21-68). There was a 89.74 per cent eradication rate by intent-to-treat and 94.59 per cent by per-protocol analysis. There were no serious adverse events during the study. Two patients (5.13%) stopped the medication because of side effects. Two patients had failure to eradication after complete treatment. Subjective improvement of the clinical symptoms was found in 92.3 per cent. CONCLUSION: One week's regimen of RBC, clarithromycin, and amoxicillin triple therapy resulted in a relatively high efficacy, safety and tolerance for H. pylori eradication in Thai patients.