THE PRESENCE OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI IN NONOPERATED DUODENAL-ULCER PATIENTS COMPARED TO PATIENTS LATE AFTER HIGHLY SELECTIVE VAGOTOMY

There are many recent studies that clearly suggest that Helicobacter p ylori (HP) is an etiological agent for duodenal ulcer disease (1-3). R andomized trials have shown that duodenal ulcers treated by omeprazole or H-2 blockers heal faster if HP is eradicated concurrently (4-6). B esides, several studies have demonstrated that eradication of HP signi ficantly reduces duodenal ulcer relapses (7-9). Patients followed up t o 7 years after eradication of HP demonstrated that 92% remained HP ne gative, with only 3% recurrence (10). Highly selective vagotomy has be en the treatment of choice for duodenal ulcer patients who are candida tes for surgical therapy (11, 12). The late results have shown an appr oximately 10% recurrence rate 8 to 10 years after surgery (13, 14). We hypothesized that in these asymptomatic cases after HSV, HP probably will exist in a minor proportion of cases, similar to what happens aft er successful medical antiulcer therapy. Therefore the purpose of the present study was to determine the HP status at the antrum in a group of nonoperated duodenal ulcer patients compared to a group submitted t o highly selective vagotomy many years prior to the actual study.