The effect of Helicobacter pylori eradication on prognosis of postoperative early gastric cancer: a multicenter study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication on the prognosis of postoperative early gastric cancer (EGC). METHODS: This is a retrospective study based on data from 6 hospitals. We identified 429 patients with EGC who underwent curative gastrectomy from January 2010 to December 2016. All of the patients were tested for H. pylori. Patients were divided into two groups, the successful H. pylori eradication group (group A, 268 patients) and the non-H. pylori eradication group (group B, 161 patients), for calculating the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of each group. RESULT: Positive node metastasis (hazard ratio (HR), 3.13; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.84–5.32; P < 0.001), undifferentiated type (HR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.51–4.28; P < 0.001), and non-H. pylori eradication (HR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.08–2.77; P = 0.023) were statistically significantly independent risk factors of recurrence. Patient’s age ≥60 years old (HR, 3.32; 95% CI, 2.00–5.53; P < 0.001), positive node metastasis (HR, 3.71; 95% CI, 2.25–6.12; P < 0.001), undifferentiated type (HR, 3.06; 95% CI, 1.79–5.23; P < 0.001), and non-H. pylori eradication (HR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.11–3.02; P = 0.018) were statistically significantly independent risk factors of overall survival. CONCLUSION: H. pylori eradication treatment could prevent the recurrence of postoperative EGC to prolong the overall survival of patients with EGC.