[The recurrence of duodenal ulcer after treatment for Helicobacter pylori. A randomized, double-blind,...

We studied 63 duodenal ulcer (DU) patients (p) diagnosed by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGE) and Helicobacter pylori positive (HP). Patients were randomized, double-blinded to receive placebo (PG) 30p or Amoxicillin plus Metronidazole 33p (TG). All of them took Famotidine for six weeks and at this point UGE was performed. DU healing was similar in both groups. HP eradication was possible in 14/24p of TG and 4/23 of PG (58.33% vs 17.39%) difference was statistically significant. DU recurrence at 3 months was 68.75% in PG vs 11.76% in TG (p = 0.001). At the end point of the study global recurrence of DU was 3/24p in TG vs 19/23 in PG (p = 0.000001). Our findings suggest that DU recurrence is related to the presence of HP. Definitive treatment to permanently eradicate the bacteria is to be evaluated.