Acid peptic diseases in the era of Helicobacter pylori

The treatment of peptic ulcers has been revolutionized by the discovery that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria is a causative agent for ulcer formation. However, when patients present with dyspepsia or epigastric discomfort, more than 80% of patients will not have ulcer disease and empiric treatment of H. pylori is not recommended for these patients. Eradication of H. pylori has not been demonstrated to improve the symptoms of non-ulcer dyspepsia compared with non-ulcer dyspepsia patients treated with placebo. Therefore, we recommend that patients should first be evaluated for peptic ulcers with endoscopy or upper gastrointestinal series before the diagnosis and treatment of H. pylori. Generally, the treatment of H. pylori should be limited to patients with peptic ulcers, mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas, and gastric cancers. Most diagnostic tests for H. pylori, including quantitative IgG antibody, urea breath tests, rapid urease tests (CLO), tests of gastric mucosal biopsies, and staining of gastric mucosal biopsies, have equivalent diagnostic characteristics. Therefore, the choice of diagnostic test for H. pylori should be based on cost, ease of use, and lack of complications. Multiple antibiotic regimens are available for the treatment of H. pylori. Triple antibiotic therapy is the least expensive but has the highest rate of side effects and the least compliance. Combining a proton pump inhibitor with clarithromycin and another antibiotic will eradicate H. pylori with fewer side effects and better compliance but this is the most expensive antibiotic regimen.