Peptic ulcer disease and H. pylori gastritis: key advances in clinical management

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) gastritis and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) intake are the most important risk factors for peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and ulcer bleeding. H. pylori infection was shown to increase the risk of ulcer bleeding in patients with PUD who are taking NSAID, aspirin, or another antiplatelet drug. H. pylori-positive patients on combined platelet aggregation inhibition are at the highest risk of bleeding. Evidence-based interdisciplinary treatment recommendations for the safe use of NSAID have been released. For patients with a moderate risk of PUD, the combination of NSAID and a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) or a monotherapy with a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor is recommended, whereas patients with a high risk of bleeding should receive a combination of a selective COX-2 inhibitor and a PPI. According to a recent randomized trial, hemodynamically stable patients with signs of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and an increased risk of death (Glasgow-Blatchford Score >= 12) undergoing endoscopy 6-24 after consultation do not have any disadvantage in terms of 30-day mortality compared to patients receiving endoscopy within 6 hours. After successful endoscopic hemostasis, additional prophylactic angiographic embolization does not reduce the risk of recurrent bleeding. Successful H. pylori eradication reduces the risk of developing gastric cancer (GC) in first-degree relatives of patients with GC by 73 %. In patients with successful endoscopic treatment of early GC, H. pylori testing with subsequent eradication also halves the rate of metachronous GC. Clarithromycin-based triple therapy for H. pylori eradication shows a decreasing effectiveness due to increasing antibiotic resistance, especially against macrolides. Accordingly, bismuth-containing quadruple therapy is widely recommended as the standard empiric first-line therapy.