Basal and stimulated gastrin and pepsinogen levels after eradication of Helicobacter pylori: a 1-year follow-up study.

AIM

A decrease in gastrin and pepsinogen (PG) levels 1 month after Helicobacter pylori eradication has been described repeatedly, but the long-term progression of such a decrease has been scarcely studied. We therefore studied the effect of H. pylori eradication on basal and stimulated gastrin and PG levels for 1 year. Initially, the usefulness of measuring these parameters for the noninvasive diagnosis of H. pylori eradication was validated. Furthermore, an assessment was made of the association between H. pylori reinfection and a re-increase in gastrin and PG values. Finally, an evaluation was made of the variables influencing gastrin and PG concentration, with particular attention to H. pylori infection and histological lesions of gastric mucosa.

METHODS

Two-hundred and twenty-two patients with duodenal ulcer were studied prospectively. Exclusion criteria were the administration of antibiotics, H2 antagonists, omeprazole or bismuth prior to endoscopy. In all patients serum basal levels of gastrin, PGI, and PGII were measured before and 1 month after completing eradication therapy. In the successfully eradicated patients, gastrin, PGI, and PGII were also measured at 6 and 12 months. In 80 patients stimulated measurements of gastrin (after ingestion of two beef cubes) and PGI (after injection of pentagastrin) were also performed. H. pylori-negative patients after therapy underwent a urea breath test at 6 and 12 months, and patients who had stimulated gastrin and PG concentration measured had also an endoscopy performed at 6 months.

RESULTS

H. pylori was eradicated in 73% of patients. A histological improvement was observed 1 month after completing H. pylori eradication therapy, both at gastric antrum and body (P < 0.001), while a further improvement at antrum was demonstrated at 6 months (P < 0.01). With regard to the different cut-off points for decreased basal and stimulated measurements for diagnosing H. pylori eradication, the best results were obtained, respectively, with PGII (sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 76%) and PGI 30 min after stimulation (sensitivity and specificity of 82%), with an area under the ROC curve of 0.87 in both cases. In the multiple regressions analysis H. pylori status correlated with gastrin, PGI and PGII after therapy (P < 0.001), while histological lesions correlated only with gastrin levels (P < 0.05). A decrease in basal and stimulated serum parameters was demonstrated immediately after eradication (Wilcoxon test, P < 0.001), and an additional decrease (at 6 months) was observed just in PGI (Friedman test, P < 0.01). However, gastrin and PGII values remained unchanged after the first month post-eradication. Seven patients were reinfected with H. pylori during follow-up. Quantitation of basal and stimulated gastrin and PGI levels was not reliable as a reinfection marker. Regarding basal PGII, the parallelism was strong at 6 months (re-increase in all four reinfected patients), although only in one out of three with reinfection at 1 year did PGII rise at that stage.

CONCLUSIONS

(1) Measurement of gastrin and PG levels (especially basal PGII values) is a useful non-invasive method to confirm H. pylori eradication after therapy. (2) H. pylori eradication is associated with a significant decrease in basal and stimulated gastrin levels and in basal PGII levels that is detected immediately (1 month) after finishing treatment, and remains unchanged for 1 year. However, the decrease in basal and stimulated PGI levels occurs progressively for 6 months, although such levels remain also unchanged afterwards. (3) Measurement of gastrin and PGI concentrations has a limited usefulness in the diagnosis of H. pylori reinfections after successful eradication, although PGII determination could be more useful in this situation.