Prospective evaluation of the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in abdominal surgery patients.
OBJECTIVE
Helicobacter pylori infection is accepted to be associated with two mutually exclusive diseases duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship and prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in different surgical diseases.


METHODS
With use of simple serologic assays for detecting IgA and IgG antibodies to HP antigen, we studied the association of infection with HP and 15 surgical diseases.


RESULTS
The prevalence of HP was 68.60% (results of assays were positive for 142 patients out of 207). This study confirmed statistically significant correlation between HP seropositivity and pancreatic cancer (p = 0.02), hepatocellular cancer (p = 0.000), gastric cancer (p = 0.01), colon cancer (p = 0.002), rectal cancer (p = 0.001), intestinal cancer (p = 0.026), stenosis pylori (p = 0.01), ulcer diseases (p = 0.004), jaundice (p = 0.002); statistically significant inverse association between HP seropositivity and the acute appendicitis (p = 0.013) and no correlation with HP infection and cholecystitis (p = 0.716), cholelithiasis (p = 0.06), and ulcer hemorrhage (p = 0.064).


CONCLUSIONS
The use of simple serological tests to identify patients with HP infection could help to calculate the risk of development of severe gastrointestinal diseases.
Popović
Nada
N
Department of Anaesthesiology and Emergency Surgery, University of Belgrade, Pasterova 2; 11000 Belgrade, Serbia. nadaiaca@eunet.rs
Nikolić
Valentina
V
Karamarković
Aleksandar
A
Blagojević
Zoran
Z
Sijacki
Ana
A
Surbatović
Maja
M
Ivancević
Nenad
N
Gregorić
Pavle
P
Ilić
Mirka
M
D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004066:Digestive System Diseases / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors