H pylori eradication:: A randomized prospective study of triple therapy with or without ecabet sodium

AIM: To investigate whether adding ecabet sodium to the standard triple therapy for H pylori infection improve eradication rate. METHODS: Two hundred and fifty-seven H pylori- infected patients were randomly assigned to standard triple therapy (group A, n = 129) or triple therapy plus ecabet sodium (group B, n = 128). Successful eradication was defined as a negative C-13-urea breath test 6-8 wk after completion of treatment. RESULTS: After completion of therapy, 194/257 patients showed negative C-13-urea breath test results. According to intention-to-treat analysis, the infection was eradicated in 93/129 (72.1%) patients in group A and 101/128 (78.9%) in group B (P = 0.204). Per-protocol analysis showed successful eradication in 93/118 (78.8%) patients from group A and 101/114 (88.6%) from group B (P = 0.044). There were no significant differences in the side effects experienced by the patients in the two treatment groups. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the addition of ecabet sodium improves the efficacy of the standard triple therapy for H pylori. (C) 2008 WJG. All rights reserved.