In this issue, we will discuss stomach tumors and the eradication of Helicobacter pylori.
Gastric cancer has become one of the leading causes of death in the world, and it is known that infection with Helicobacter pylori is related to the cause of stomach cancer.It may seem that eradicating H. pylori would simply reduce the risk of stomach cancer, but here is a review of the actual research.
The study
A search of the literature up to February 2, 2020 found 7 studies, which were reviwed.
This review included 8323 participants and included four trials with a low risk of bias.Of these studies, six were conducted in Asia.
Antibiotic treatment against Helicobacter pylori was found to be effective in helping prevent stomach cancer.
Of the 4206 people who received the treatment, 68 were found to have subsequently developed stomach cancer, compared to 125 of the 4117 people who received no treatment or a placebo.The reduction in deaths from gastric cancer looked like this.The number of deaths from gastric cancer was reduced in this way: 36 out of 3154 participants received antibiotics compared to 59 out of 3147, but it is unclear whether these increased or decreased the number of deaths or the number of cases of esophageal cancer for some reason.Few data on side effects of the treatment have been reported.
Reviewer's conclusion
We found moderately reliable evidence that searching for and eradicating H. pylori reduces the incidence of gastric cancer and mortality from gastric cancer in healthy asymptomatic infected Asians, but this data cannot necessarily be extrapolated to other populations.
Ford AC, Yuan Y, Forman D, Hunt R, Moayedi P, Helicobacter pylori eradication for the prevention of gastric neoplasia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD005583. DOI: 10. 1002/14651858.CD005583.pub3.
Conclusion
The results suggest that treatment strategies such as this one may reduce the incidence of gastric cancer, but we do not know if the same is true in other settings or races.He said that it was not so simple, as it could vary depending on the person's current medical history, previous medical history, family history, etc.
It seemed to be a good idea to discuss the treatment with his doctor.
