High-dose dual therapy is superior to standard first-line or rescue therapy for Helicobacter pylori infection.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The efficacy of treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection has decreased steadily because of increasing resistance to clarithromycin, metronidazole, and levofloxacin. Resistance to amoxicillin is generally low, and high intragastric pH increases the efficacy of amoxicillin, so we investigated whether a combination of a high-dose proton pump inhibitor and amoxicillin (dual therapy) was more effective than standard first-line or rescue therapies in eradicating H pylori. METHODS: We performed a large-scale multihospital trial to compare the efficacy of a high-dose dual therapy (HDDT) with that of standard therapies in treatment-naive (n = 450) or treatment-experienced (n = 168) patients with H pylori infection. Treatment-naive patients were randomly assigned to groups given HDDT (rabeprazole 20 mg and amoxicillin 750 mg, 4 times/day for 14 days, group A1), sequential therapy for 10 days (group B1), or clarithromycin-containing triple therapy for 7 days (group C1). Treatment-experienced patients were randomly assigned to groups given HDDT for 14 days (group A2), sequential therapy for 10 days (B2), or levofloxacin-containing triple therapy for 7 days (C2). H pylori infection was detected by using the (13)C-urea breath test. We evaluated factors associated with treatment outcomes. RESULTS: In the intention-to-treat analysis, H pylori was eradicated in 95.3% of patients in group A1 (95% confidence interval [CI], 91.9%-98.8%), 85.3% in B1 (95% CI, 79.6%-91.1%), and 80.7% in group C1 (95% CI, 74.3%-87.1%). Infection was eradicated in 89.3% of patients in group A2 (95% CI, 80.9%-97.6%), 51.8% in group B2 (95% CI, 38.3%-65.3%), and 78.6% (95% CI, 67.5%-89.7%) in group C2. The efficacy of HDDT was significantly higher than that of currently recommended regimens, irrespective of CYP2C19 genotype. Bacterial resistance to drugs was associated with treatment failure. There were no significant differences between groups in adverse events or patient adherence. CONCLUSIONS: HDDT is superior to standard regimens as empirical first-line or rescue therapy for H pylori infection, with similar safety profiles and tolerability. ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT01163435.

Cavernous transformation of the portal vein: etiology determines the outcome.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cavernous transformation of the portal vein is a rare condition with various etiologies and diverse clinical presentations. We aim to assess the disease outcome of different etiologic groups. METHODOLOGY: We retrospectively scrutinized the clinicopathologic characteristics of 35 patients with cavernous transformation of the portal vein, placing special emphasis on the disease extent, progression, and outcome after stratification into different etiologic groups. RESULTS: There were 20 males and 15 females with a mean age of 40.4 years. The etiologies of these patients could be classified into four groups including hematologic disease (n=12, 34.2%), malignant disease (n=8, 22.9%), non-malignant disease (n=6, 17.2%), and idiopathic (n=9, 25.7%). The hematologic disease group had 9 patients with myeloproliferative disease and 3 patients with protein C or protein S deficiency. The hematologic disease group survived well after medication or surgical management. Hepatocellular carcinoma (n=6) was the leading cause in the malignant diseases group, which had a significantly poorer survival rate than the rest (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Cavernous transformation of the portal vein is a long-term sequele of portal vein thrombosis in which the etiology determines the outcome. More aggressive management including long-term anticoagulation in patients with myeloproliferative disorder or underlying prothrombotic states and endoscopic therapy in controlling variceal bleeding may be a more effective treatment for these patients.