Clinical efficacy of lansoprazole-amoxicillin treatment in eradicating Helicobacter pylori: evaluation by the polymerase chain reaction method.

The clinical efficacy of lansoprazole plus amoxicillin treatment in eradicating Helicobacter pylori was examined in peptic ulcer patients. H. pylori eradication was assessed by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method in addition to conventional methods. Fifteen H. pylori-positive patients with active peptic ulcers (10 duodenal ulcer patients and 5 gastric ulcer patients) were given lansoprazole 30 mg/day from day 1 to day 56 and amoxicillin 1,500 mg/day from day 15 to day 28. Four weeks after the end of treatment, no H. pylori organisms were detected in 9 of 15 patients (60%) as assessed by the rapid urease test and in 10 of 15 patients (67%) as assessed by bacterial culture. However, only three patients were negative for H. pylori when evaluated by the PCR method. Therefore, although lansoprazole plus amoxicillin treatment appears to be promising, a very small number of H. pylori organisms are apparently able to survive such treatment, which may result in the recurrence of H. pylori colonization in some patients.