Optimal Tailored Treatment for H. Pylori Infection

The efficacy of the current standard triple therapy is at an unacceptably low level. Resistance to antibiotics is suspected to be the major cause of the low efficacy of standard triple therapy. Point mutations in the 23S rRNA gene are known to be the primary mechanism of clarithromycin resistance against H pylori. Recently, a point mutation detection kit using a dual-priming oligonucleotide (DPO)-based multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was introduced and made commercially available. The primary goal of our study was to compare the eradication rates of empirical therapy and tailored therapy. Specifically we examined the eradication rates of 7-d, 14-d empirical therapy with 7-d, 14-d tailored therapy. Our secondary goal was to examine the adverse events of each treatment, cost effectiveness of each treatment methods, and accuracy of DPO-PCR for detecting H. pylori resistance.