Pearls and Pitfalls
Helicobacter pylori plays a prominent role in upper gastrointestinal disease worldwide.
More than 50% of the world's population is infected with the organism; in those infected individuals, the estimated lifetime risk for ulcer disease and gastric cancer are 15% and 0.5–2%, respectively.
Whether an individual will develop H. pylori-related disease depends on bacterial virulence, host genetic susceptibility, and environmental factors.
There appears to be a negative association between H. pylori infection and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
H. pylori-related duodenal and gastric ulcers are associated with antral-predominant and diffuse gastritis, respectively.
Twenty percent of patients are asymptomatic until complications develop.
First-line eradication treatment involves triple therapy with a proton pump inhibitor or ranitidine bismuth citrate, and two antimicrobial agents like clarithromycin, amoxicillin, or metronidazole. Medications are given twice daily for...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Selected Readings
Chu KM, Kwok KF, Law SYK, et al. (1999) Helicobacter pylori status and endoscopy follow-up of patients having a past history of perforated duodenal ulcer. Gastrointest Endosc 50:58–62
Chu KM, Kwok KF, Law S, Wong KH (2005) Patients with Helicobacter pylori positive and negative duodenal ulcers have distinct clinical characteristics. World J Gastroenterol 11:3518–3522
Marshall B (1983) Unidentified curved bacilli on gastric epithelium in active chronic gastritis. Lancet 1:1273–1275
McColl KEL (1997) Pathophysiology of duodenal ulcer disease. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 9 (Suppl 1):S9–S12
Peterson WL, Fendrick AM, Cave DR, et al. (2000) Helicobacter pylori-related disease: guidelines for testing and treatment. Arch Intern Med 160:1285–1291
Walsh JH, Peterson WL (1995) The treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection in the management of peptic ulcer disease. N Engl J Med 333:984–991
Warren JR (1983) Unidentified curved bacilli on gastric epithelium in active chronic gastritis. Lancet 1:1273
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Chu, KM. (2009). Peptic Ulcer Disease and Helicobacter Pylori . In: Bland, K.I., Büchler, M.W., Csendes, A., Sarr, M.G., Garden, O.J., Wong, J. (eds) General Surgery. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-833-3_47
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-833-3_47
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-84628-832-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-84628-833-3
eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine