Patients undergoing weight loss surgery have high rates of H pylori bacteria

The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (a type of bacteria associated with gastrointestinal disorders) is high among patients about to undergo weight loss surgery, and treatment to eradicate the bacterial infection before surgery may be beneficial, according to an article in the October issue of The Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The number of obese and morbidly obese Americans is steadily increasing, according to background information in the article. It is estimated that more than 30 percent of the U.S. population has a body mass index (BMI) over 30 (obese), and five percent of the U.S. population has a BMI over 40, resulting in a increased demand for weight loss surgery, including gastric bypass surgery (surgery that results in food bypassing much of the intestinal tract). Twenty to 50 percent of people living in industrialized countries are infected with H pylori, which is believed to be involved in gastroduodenal ulcer disease (a gastrointestinal tract disease characterized by ulcers in the stomach and upper intestinal tract, or foregut), in addition to gastric cancer, according to the article. The role of H pylori after gastric bypass surgery is unknown.

Archana Ramaswamy, M.D., from Emory University, School of Medicine, Atlanta, and colleagues examined 99 patients between September 2001 and September 2002 as part of an evaluation for weight loss surgery. The patients (16 men and 83 women; average age 40 years; average BMI, 48) underwent routine testing before their weight loss surgeries, including testing for the presence of H pylori.

Before surgery, 24 percent of the patients tested positive for the H pylori infection. Of those who tested positive for H pylori, 48 percent showed significant upper gastrointestinal tract symptoms indicative of H pylori infection after surgery, while similar symptoms were present in 19 percent of the H pylori-negative group. Those with prolonged symptoms who tested positive for the infection were given treatment to eliminate the infection.

Media Contact

Cindy Sanders EurekAlert!

More Information:

http://jama.ama-assn.org

All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine

This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.

Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors