Helicobacter pylori infection. The importance of eradication in patients with gastric disease.

Discovery of Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with peptic ulcer disease has completely transformed the approach to the disease. Implications of this discovery for healthcare in general and for medical economics are only now being appreciated. Noninvasive and invasive methods of establishing the presence of infection are currently available, and clinical introduction of the recently approved urea breath test in the near future will add another method for documenting both active infection and successful eradication. Patients with initial presentation or recurrence of gastric or duodenal ulcer disease and those with previous disease who are receiving maintenance therapy should be treated for H pylori infection. Treatment regimens, which consist of combinations of antibiotics, bismuth salts, and proton pump inhibitors, can result in cure rates of 90%, with prevention of recurrence. Understanding of the infection continues to grow rapidly, and current recommendations regarding diagnosis and treatment will evolve as new methods are developed.