Abstract
Objective: Double-contrast upper gastrointestinal radiography (UGI-XR) has been used for screening gastric cancer worldwide. However, gastric mucosal change after eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) on UGI-XR is poorly understood. We investigated gastric mucosal changes after H. pylori eradication on UGI-XR.
Methods: The width of gastric folds and the state of mucosal surface before and after H. pylori eradication were evaluated in 104 subjects by UGI-XR. Gastric mucosal surface (GMS) findings were classified into four types according to the degree of abnormality in the mucosal pattern: A, normal; B, enlarged and mildly irregular-shaped gastric area; C, obviously enlarged with considerable irregular gastric area; and D, irregular rugged mucosal surface.
Results: During a 16.1-months follow-up period, the enlarged folds improved in 62/91 subjects (68%), and the width of the gastric folds decreased from 6.4 mm (mean) to 3.7 mm (p<0.0001). Gastritis change of GMS changed in all types; however, the improvement to type A with normalization of fold width was lower in type C (2.6%, p=0.047) and type D (0%, p=0.029) than in type B (16.1%).
Conclusion: H. pylori-induced chronic gastritis changed after H. pylori eradication in 70% of the subjects who underwent UGI-XR, and UGI-XR is useful for evaluating gastric mucosal change after H. pylori eradication. In subjects with type C and type D GMS, the rate of change to a normal mucosa on UGI-XR was low, which suggested earlier H. pylori eradication, prior to developing type C and type D mucosal patterns.
