The effect of Helicobacter pylori eradication on intestinal metaplasia of gastric mucosa

Objective To investigate the effect of H.pylori eradication on intestinal metaplasia of gastric mucosa. Methods A total of 398 patients with H.pylori positive determined by rapid urease test (RUT) and confirmed in histology were randomized into two groups: the treatment group and the control group. The patients of treatment group (201 patients) were received H.pylori eradication therapy, and the patients of control group (197 patients) were given placebo. The intestinal metaplasia of gastric mucosa was determined at gastric biopsy specimens taken from both the antrum and corpus before and after five years of treatment. Results Five years later, there are 151 H.pylori negative patients in treatment group, and 161 H.pylori positive patients in control group. After eradication therapy, the detectable rates of active gastritis in H.pylori negative patients of treatment group were significantly decreased compared with those in H.pylori positive patients of control group ( P 0.000 1). The detectable rates of the intestinal metaplasia of H.pylori positive patients in control group were much higher than those five years ago ( P 0.001), and also higher than those H.pylori negative patients who had received H.pylori eradication therapy in treatment group ( P 0.001). No difference was observed in the patients who had received H.pylori eradication therapy in treatment group before and after the treatment. Conclusions Eradication of H.pylori results in the alleviation of the severity of gastritis, preventing the gastric mucosa from developing intestinal metaplasia.