In dyspeptic patients without gastric phase III of the migrating motor complex, Helicobacter pylori eradication produces no short-term changes in interdigestive motility pattern

Background: The relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and inte rdigestive gastroduodenal motility in functional dyspepsia is still uncerta in. Recent data from a large series documented that in dyspeptic patients w ithout gastric phase III of the interdigestive migrating motor complex (MMC ), the prevalence of bacterial infection was significantly higher. Since mo st H. pylori-positive dyspeptic patients have coexisting chronic gastritis, whether or not dyspepsia per se rather than bacterial colonization or chro nic inflammation of the gastric mucosa may account for the observed interdi gestive motility pattern is unknown. Our aim was to compare the interdigest ive gastroduodenal motility pattern and dyspeptic symptoms before and 1 mon th after bacterial eradication in 20 H. pylori-positive dyspeptic subjects with chronic non-atrophic gastritis and without gastric phase III of the MM C, who were randomly allocated to receive eradication treatment (n = 10) or not (n = 10). Methods: Upper GI endoscopy with duplicate biopsies in antru m and corpus, 240-min interdigestive gastroduodenal manometric recording an d symptoms assessment were performed before and 1 month after the treatment s; bacterial eradication was confirmed by C-13-urea breath test. Results: A fter H. pylori eradication, neither in the incidence of antral and duodenal phase III of MMC nor in the phase II motility index values were any change s observed. Symptomatic improvement was recorded in both groups, with no si gnificant differences between eradicated patients and controls. Conclusions : In dyspeptic patients with chronic non-atrophic gastritis and without gas tric phase III of MMC, H. pylori eradication influences neither the interdi gestive motility pattern nor the symptoms in the short-term period.