Combined antrum and corpus biopsy protocol improves Helicobacter pylori culture success

Table 1 Patient demographics

	Total, n = 219	Single, n = 73	Combined, n = 146	P value1
Mean age (yr)	48 ± 14.9	49 ± 15.9	48 ± 14.5	0.43
Sex				0.32
Male	n = 111 (50.7%)	n = 41 (56.2%)	n = 70 (47.9%)
Female	n = 108 (49.3%)	n = 32 (43.8%)	n = 76 (52.1%)
Endoscopy findings
Normal	18 (8.2%)	5 (6.8%)	13 (8.9%)	0.80
Gastritis	129 (58.9%)	40 (54.8%)	89 (61.0%)	0.57
Gastric ulcer	10 (4.6%)	3 (4.1%)	7 (4.8%)	1.00
Duodenal ulcer	6 (2.7%)	2 (2.7%)	4 (2.7%)	1.00
Intestinal metaplasia	1 (0.5%)	1 (1.4%)	0 (0%)	0.33
Duodenitis	11 (5.0%)	3 (4.1%)	8 (5.5%)	0.76
Oesophagitis	4 (1.8%)	3 (4.1%)	1 (0.7%)	0.12
Barrett’s oesophagus	5 (2.3%)	3 (4.1%)	2 (1.4%)	0.34
Hiatus hernia	9 (4.1%)	3 (4.1%)	6 (4.1%)	1.00
Telangiectasia	1 (0.5%)	0 (0%)	1 (0.7%)	1.00
Portal hypertensive gastropathy	1 (0.5%)	1 (1.4%)	0 (0%)	0.33
No data	24 (11.0%)	9 (12.3%)	15 (10.3%)	0.65

¹Single versus combined.

Table 2 Culture success rate of Helicobacter pylori using single antrum biopsies versus combined antrum and corpus biopsies

	Culture positivity rate	P value
Single biopsy	49.3% (36/73; 95%CI: 38.2-60.5)	0.04a
Combined biopsies	64.4% (94/146; 95%CI: 56.3-71.7)

^aP value < 0.05.