Can Celecoxib or Helicobacter pylori Eradication Reduce Gastric Lesions?

Both Helicobacter pylori infection and high levels of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 have been associated with gastric cancer. To explore whether H. pylori eradication and a selective COX-2 inhibitor can reduce gastric lesions, investigators in China conducted a prospective, randomized, double-blind study involving patients with documented H. pylori infection and histologic evidence of chronic atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia, or indefinite dysplasia.

A total of 1024 patients were randomized to one of four treatments: placebo alone, placebo with 7 days of H. pylori therapy, placebo with 24 months of celecoxib, or 7 days of H. pylori therapy and 24 months of celecoxib. Patients underwent endoscopic biopsies at baseline and after 2…