MedWire News: People with stomach cancer who undergo surgery to remove part of their stomach benefit from either pre- or post-operative therapy to eradicate the peptic ulcer-causing bug Helicobacter pylori, study results show.

Therapy to eradicate Helicobacter pylori is the standard treatment for people with peptic ulcers or gastritis, explain Dr Il Ju Choi, from the National Cancer Center in Gyeonggi, Korea, and team.

They add that Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy is also recommended for patients with stomach cancer to reduce the risk of ulcers and other complications, but it is not known whether it is best for such patients to receive treatment before of after surgery to remove part of the stomach.

The researchers therefore studied 138 Helicobacter pylori-infected patients with stomach cancer who were due to undergo stomach surgery.

Around half the patients underwent eradication therapy with drugs called proton pump inhibitors and antibiotics before stomach surgery while the other half received post-surgery eradication therapy.

Twelve weeks after surgery, the researchers found that Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy had been successful in 85% of patients treated pre-operatively and in 83% of those treated postoperatively - a nonsignificant difference, they say.

Furthermore, the effectiveness of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy in patients treated post-operatively was not affected by the type of stomach reconstruction carried out.

Dr Choi and colleagues conclude: "In distal gastric cancer patients, the effect of proton pump inhibitor-based triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication was not different whether given postoperatively or pre-operatively."

The research is published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.