Abstract
Background: Antibiotic-resistant reduces the efficacy of conventional triple therapy for Helicobacter Pylori infections worldwide, lead to varying treatment protocols according to locations. This was an open‑label randomized controlled trial. We used two protocols, doxycycline-based quadruple and concomitant levofloxacin regimens. The aim was to compare the eradication rates of previous protocols as empirical first-line treatment to cure Helicobacter Pylori infection in intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol analyses (PPA) in Syrian population.Settings and Design: an open‑label parallel randomized controlled trial.Methods: We randomly assigned seventy-eight naïve who tested positive for Helicobacter Pylori gastric infection, with a 1:1 ratio to (D-group ) which receive (bismuth subsalicylate 524 mg four times daily, doxycycline 100 mg, tinidazole 500 mg, and esomeprazole 20 mg, each twice per day for two weeks), or (L-group) which receive (levofloxacin 500 mg daily, tinidazole 500 mg, amoxicillin 1000 mg, and esomeprazole 20 mg each twice per day for two weeks). We confirmed Helicobacter Pylori eradication by stool antigen test at eight weeks. Results: Thirty-nine patients were allocated in each group. In the D-group, thirty-eight patients completed the follow-up, thirty patients were cured. While in the L-group, thirty-nine completed the follow-up, thirty-two patients were cured. According to ITT, the eradication rates were 76.92%, and 82.05%, for the D-group and L-group respectively. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was 1.371 [0.454-4.146]. According to PPA, the eradication rates were 78.9 %, and 82.05% for the D-group and L-group respectively. The odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was 1.219 [0.394-3.774]. We didn’t report serious adverse effects. Conclusions: The eradication rates in both therapy regimes were fair. Further researches are required to identify the optimum first-line treatment for Helicobacter-Pylori Infection in the Syrian population.Trial registration: We register this study as a standard randomized clinical trial (Clinicaltrial.gov, identifier‑NCT04348786, date:29-January-2020, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04348786).
Efficacy of Bismuth-Containing Quadruple Therapy as
First-line Treatment for Helicobacter pylori Infection
