Frederick R. Jelovsek MD
By 1982, we used to think that ulcers were caused by spicy food, acid, stress and "type" personality. Then the bacterium Helicobacter Pylori was opened. Now we know that 80% of gastric ulcers and 90% of duodenal ulcers caused by bacteria, H.pylori. As a result, ulcers often heal now, medical therapy, not surgery. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now produces a newsletter for health workers to make sure that the message that it is often curable problems. With this in July 1998
, Facts and conducted by the CDC, we can find answers to several questions about ulcers and infections H. pylori. What are the symptoms of ulcers? The most common symptom noted ulcer is gnawing, burning pain in the stomach just below mid-chest. Its beginning is usually progressive over several weeks or months, rather than acute onset. The pain usually occurs when stomach is empty between meals and early morning hours. It can last from several minutes to several hours and released from eating or taking antacids. Less common symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite. Bleeding from ulcers may lead to black as pitch, stools, vomiting of blood or even coughing up blood. I should be checked for helicobacter? Anyone who has been diagnosed with an ulcer or who had a history of ulcers should be checked. In addition, people who have a history of gastric (stomach) cancer or mucosa associated lymphoid-type (MALT), lymphoma, also should be checked. H pylori is closely connected with this last two malignancies. It is currently unclear whether people with just indigestion (dyspepsia), who have ulcers should be checked. Remember that more 2/3-h world's population infected with helicobacter, and most of them have no symptoms or sores on it. How helicobacter infection diagnosed? There are several methods currently for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection. There are antibody tests that can determine whether a person is ever exposed to bacteria. They take about 80% of people who are or have been infected. If the test is negative, it transmits only about 5% of people who actually strattera without prescritpion were infected. There's also a breath test in which patients give a radioisotope labeled liquids to drink and helicobacter metabolism of labeled compounds, which can then be measured in human breath. These tests are more accurate than antibody tests. The gold standard for diagnosing this is during upper endoscopy esophagogastroduodenal (EGD), in which the endoscope is introduced into the stomach to look for ulcers and take a biopsy. Then treated or biopsy urea test, a closer look at tissue or bacterial culture tissue. What are the long-term consequences of infection H.pylori? In peptic ulcer disease and its complications, gastric cancer is the greatest risk of long-term infection. In countries such as Colombia and China, where more than half the population infected in early childhood, there is a high incidence of gastric cancer. In the U.S., H.pylori is rarer in young people and the incidence of gastric cancer decreased from 1930's. If I were infected with helicobacter? It is not known how H. pylori is transmitted and why some people become symptomatic and others do not. It is considered likely to be transmitted from person to person through the supply of food and water. What are the treatment regimens used to treat H. pylori? There are various treatment regimens used. Approved by the FDA for treatment of H. pylori (1998).
