The Revolutions of Helicobacter Pylori Infection, Bacterial Density, and Histological Features After Antrectomy

Helicobacter pylori (HP) is a gram-negative bacillus responsible for one of the most common infections found in humans worldwide. By the early-to-mid 1990s, further evidence emerged supporting the link between the chronic gastritis of HP infection and malignancy in adults, specifically gastric lymphoma and adenocarcinoma. The potential of HP eradication for the prevention of gastric cancer was underlined. At the national consensus meeting held in Brussels in 1998, HP eradication was strongly recommended in past or current peptic ulcer diseases, regardless of activity, complication and post endoscopic resection of early cancer. Some patients received gastric surgery due to the complications of peptic ulcer such as bleeding or perforation in the pre-HP eradication era. Their HP infection status was not surveyed and unknown at the time. Afterward, some of them were not suggested to receive an eradication therapy and recovered from the operative procedure. According to the consensus to treat HP for a purpose to reduce the risk of gastric cancer, these patients were still under risk. There have been only a few surveys on the prevalence of persistent HP infection in patients who have undergone surgery. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and histological features of HP infection after a time course of partial distal gastric surgery.