Ranitidine bismuth citrate-based triple therapies as a second-line therapy for Helicobacter pylori in Turkish patients.

BACKGROUND: Quadruple therapy with a proton pump inhibitor, bismuth, metronidazole and tetracycline is recommended as the optimal second-line therapy of Helicobacter pylori infection in the Maastricht Consensus Report. The aim of the present paper was to evaluate the efficacy of ranitidine bismuth citrate (RBC)-based regimens as second-line therapies after failure of the standard Maastricht triple therapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and sixteen H. pylori-positive patients were given omeprazole 20 mg b.d., clarithromycin 500 mg b.d., and amoxicillin 1 g b.d for 10 days. Patients remaining H. pylori-positive (n = 29) were combined with 27 patients enrolled after an initial eradication failure from proton-pump inhibitor (PPI), amoxicillin and clarithromycin therapy for at least 7 days and were randomly given one of the following second-line 10-day treatments: RBC 400 mg b.d., amoxicillin 1 g b.d and clarithromycin 500 mg b.d. (RAC group, n = 28) and RBC 400 mg b.d., metronidazole 500 mg b.d and tetracycline 500 mg b.d. (RMT group, n = 28). Eradication was assessed by either histology and rapid urease test or (13)C urea breath test 8 weeks after therapy.

RESULTS: The eradication rate of first-line Maastricht therapy was 67% for intention-to-treat analysis (95% confidence interval [CI]: 58-75). Per-protocol and intention-to-treat eradication was achieved in 60.7% of patients (95%CI: 42-79) in the RAC group and in 85.7% of patients (95%CI: 73-98) in the RMT group (P = 0.03). Fifty-three percent of patients in the RAC and 50% of patients in the RMT group experienced at least one slight side-effect (P = 0.6).

CONCLUSIONS: RMT is an effective and well-tolerated second-line therapy after H. pylori eradication failure from PPI, amoxicillin, and clarithromycin.