Scandinavian journal of gastroenterology
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Scand. J. Gastroenterol. · Nov 1998
Recurrence of Helicobacter pylori infection after eradication: incidence and variables influencing it.
Our aim was to study the incidence of Helicobacter pylori recurrence in our country and to assess the different variables that might influence it. ⋯ Risk of post-eradication H. pylori recurrence is higher during the first 6 months, which suggests that most recurrences during this period are recrudescences and not true reinfections. Patients who have H. pylori recurrence tend to be younger and have higher delta 13C-urea breath test values after therapy, which suggests that a 'negative' value between 3 per thousand and 5 per thousand needs to be confirmed. Recurrence of H. pylori is more frequent in patients treated with low-efficacy therapies but is exceptional when high-efficacy therapies are used, in which case post-therapy eradication can be safely confirmed at 4 weeks. Finally, recurrence of H. pylori is clinically relevant, as ulcer recurrence is observed in a considerable proportion of these patients.