[Helicobacter pylori--2002].

Treatment recommendations for H. pylori infection are peptic ulcer disease, MALT lymphoma, atrophic gastritis and following gastric cancer resection as well as first degree relatives of gastric cancer patients. Advisable situations are functional dyspepsia, before introduction of NSAID's or intended long-term proton-pump inhibitor treatment. It is thought that eradication therapy is not associated with gastro-esophageal reflux disease and does not enhance NSAID induced peptic ulcer healing. Therapy should be given as a package which considers first and second line eradication therapies together; in uncomplicated duodenal ulcer patients, eradication therapy does not need to be followed by further antisecretory treatment. First line therapy should be with triple therapy using a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), combined with clarithromycin and amoxycilline or metronidazole. Second-line therapy should use a quadruple therapy with a PPI, bismuth, metronidazole and tetracycline. Where bismuth is not available, second line therapy should be with a PPI triple therapy. If second line quadruple therapy fails in primary care, patients should be referred to the specialist and handled on a case by case basis. Successful eradication should always be confirmed by urea breath test (UBT), or endoscopy-based tests if endoscopy is clinically indicated. Stool antigen test is the alternative if UBT is not available. A 'test and treat' approach based on non-invasive testing can be offered to adult patients presenting in primary care with persistent dyspepsia under the age of 45 years (the age cut-off may vary locally), having excluded those with predominantly gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms, NSAID users, and patients with alarm symptoms.