Clinical Impact of High-dose Esomeprazole-amoxicillin Dual Therapy as Rescue Treatment for Helicobacter pylori Infection: A Prospective, Multicenter, Randomized Trial.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of high-dose dual therapy (HDDT) using esomeprazole and amoxicillin to furazolidone-based quadruple therapy (FBQT) in treating nonresponsive patients with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection.

Materials and methods: A total of 209 patients with H. pylori infection, who had previously received ineffective treatment and visited an outpatient clinic, were randomly assigned to either the HDDT or FBQT groups. All patients underwent a 14-day treatment regimen, and the success rates of H. pylori eradication and safety of the treatment regimens were assessed 4 weeks posttreatment.

Results: Following the 14-day treatment period, the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis revealed eradication rates of 93.6% for HDDT and 86.9% for FBQT. In the per-protocol (PP) analysis, eradication rates were 94.5% for HDDT and 88.7% for FBQT. No significant difference in eradication rates was observed between the two groups. HDDT exhibited significantly lower rates of adverse reactions (9.1% in ITT and 9.2% in PP) compared with FBQT (58.6% in ITT and 59.8% in PP). Multivariate analysis identified interval time, alkaline phosphatase, and serum creatinine level as factors influencing the eradication rate. The area under the receiver operating curve of the interval time between the FBQT group and the HDDT group and the success of H. pylori eradication were 0.622 and 0.578, respectively. The optimal salvage treatment intervals were determined as 6 months for FBQT and 1 year for HDDT.

Conclusion: HDDT using high-dose esomeprazole and amoxicillin demonstrated efficacy in treating H. pylori infection, with the added benefits of reduced side effects and improved medication compliance compared with FBQT. HDDT can be considered a rescue treatment option when other methods fail, with treatment intervals optimized accordingly.