Efficacy of Probiotics as Adjuvant to the Standard Triple Therapy for the Treatment of Helicobacter Pylori-Associated Peptic Ulcer Disease: A Randomized-Control Trial.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a major cause of peptic ulcer disease (PUD), which needs effective eradication of the organism to heal ulcers and prevent a recurrence. In recent years, increasing resistance of H. pylori to clarithromycin and amoxicillin have decreased peptic ulcer cure rate following treatment with standard triple therapy worldwide. The addition of probiotics with standard triple therapy has shown excellent efficacy in H. pylori eradication and has appeared to be an alternative treatment strategy. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of standard triple therapy plus probiotics for H. pylori eradication and ulcer healing compared to standard triple therapy alone. This double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial included 158 with endoscopically proven H. pylori-positive PUD who were randomly allocated equally into two groups; Group A was treated with standard triple therapy plus probiotics, and Group B was treated with standard triple therapy plus placebo for 14 days. The outcome was evaluated at the end of treatment (14th day) (symptoms plus adverse events) and after 60 days of treatment completion (H. pylori eradication and ulcer healing). One hundred forty four (144) study subjects (73 in Group A and 71 in Group B) completed the study. Significantly higher H. pylori eradication rate (82.2%vs. 67.6%, p=0.043) and ulcer healing rate (92.3% vs. 60.0%, p=0.049) were observed in the standard triple therapy plus probiotic group than the standard triple therapy plus placebo group. Early relief of epigastric pain was also seen among patients getting probiotics than the placebo in addition to standard triple therapy (42.3% vs. 15.1%, p<0.001).The addition of probiotics significantly improves the H. pylori eradication rate and ulcer healing rate among the patients getting standard triple therapy. Further large-scale, multi-center studies are needed to recommend routine use of probiotics with standard triple therapy for H. pylori eradication.