Helicobacter pylori and the risk of benign and malignant biliary tract disease.
BACKGROUND
The etiology of tumors arising in the biliary tract remains unclear. Several previous studies have detected Helicobacter pylori organisms in bile from patients with gallstones or cholecystitis. The objective of this study was to determine whether there is an association between H. pylori in bile and biliary tract carcinoma.


METHODS
The authors used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to detect the presence of H. pylori in the stomach and bile from 89 patients: Sixty-three disease free patients had biliary calculi, 15 patients had carcinoma of the biliary tract, and 11 patients had neither gallstones nor carcinoma. Bile was considered to contain H. pylori only if the results of PCR determinations were positive in two or more samples assayed independently in two separate laboratories.


RESULTS
There was a strong association between the presence of H. pylori in the stomach and in the bile (P < or = 0.01). Biliary H. pylori was associated with age but not with gender, and it was associated strongly with the clinical diagnosis. Patients with gallstones were 3.5 times as likely to have H. pylori in the bile compared with patients in a control group (95% confidence interval [95%CI], 0.8-15.8; P = 0.100), and H. pylori was 9.9 times more frequent in patients with biliary tract carcinoma compared with patients in the control group (95%CI, 1.4-70.5; P = 0.022).


CONCLUSIONS
There is a strong association between biliary tract carcinoma and H. pylori in bile. If these results are confirmed by prospective studies, H. pylori may be responsible for a significant proportion of malignant biliary tract disease.
Bulajic
Milutin
M
Department of Medicine, University of Rostock, Germany.
Maisonneuve
Patrick
P
Schneider-Brachert
Wulf
W
Müller
Petra
P
Reischl
Udo
U
Stimec
Bojan
B
Lehn
Norbert
N
Lowenfels
Albert B
AB
Löhr
Matthias
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D014670:Ampulla of Vater / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D001646:Bile / Q000382:microbiology; D001660:Biliary Tract Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D001661:Biliary Tract Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology; D003069:Coffee / Q000009:adverse effects; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D014510:Urease / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics
D003069:Coffee; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D014510:Urease