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INITIAL THERAPY FOR HELICOBACTER PYLORI ERADICATION IN A CANADIAN REAL LIFE SETTING: AN INTERIM ANAYLSIS COMPARING 7 AND 14 DAY TRIPLE THERAPY REGIMENS
K Herba, A Szilagyi, C Fallone
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
Aims: To determine the optimal duration of proton-pump based triple therapy for initial eradication of documented Helicobacter pylori infection in a Canadian real life setting.
Methods: Relevant data from January 2007 to present was collected using an existing database comprised of patients from both an outpatient gastroenterology clinic in a university-based setting and a community gastroenterology practice. All patients had documented Helicobacter pylori infection at the onset of our study diagnosed via urea breath testing or endoscopy. Patients with any previous eradication attempts were excluded from our analysis. Eradication success / failure was determined on all patients by either subsequent gastroscopy with biopies or urea breath tests, performed at least 4 weeks after completion of antibiotics. Statistical significance was determined using Chi-Squared analysis assuming that a 10% or greater difference between groups was clinically significant.
Results: At interim analysis, a total of 66 patients in the 7 day proton-pump based triple therapy group and 49 patients in the 14 day group had documented Helicobacter pylori eradication success / failure. Eradication rates for the 7 day treatment group were 52/66= 78.9% and 39/49= 79.6% for the 14 day group.
Using Chi Square analysis and a defining a clinically acceptable eradication rate difference as more than 10%, we did not detect a statistically significant difference between eradication rates for the 14 and 7 day initial treatment regimens.
Conclusions: There was no statistically significant difference in eradication rates between a 14 and 7 day proton pump-based initial eradication regimen at interim analysis. Futher patient recruitment in both groups would be helpful in determining if the two treatment groups are equivalent at a statisticaly significant level.