Published by Blackwell Publishing Seven versus Ten Days of Rabeprazole Triple Therapy for

BACKGROUND: Ten-day triple therapy is somewhat more effective than 7-day treatment for curing Helicobacter pylori infection. Recent studies have suggested that rabeprazole—a proton pump inhibitor with fast onset of acid inhibition—could raise the efficacy of 7-day therapies to the levels obtained with 10-day treatment. OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of 7- and 10-day rabeprazole-based triple therapy for H. pylori eradication. PATIENTS Four hundred and fifty-eight patients were randomized to 7 or 10 days of triple therapy, including AND METHODS: rabeprazole 20 mg, clarithromycin 500 mg, and amoxicillin 1 g, all twice a day. Cure rates were evaluated by urea breath test. RESULTS: Two hundred and thirty-seven patients received 7-day and 221 received 10-day therapy. Groups were comparable in terms of demographic variables. Intention to treat cure rates were 73.8 % (95% CI: 67–79%) for 7-day and 79.6 % (95%: CI:74–85%) for 10-day therapy (p = 0.09). Per-protocol cure rates were 81.8 % (95 % CI:76–o86%) and 89.3 % (95 % CI: 84–93%), p = 0.02, respectively. Cure rates were similar in peptic ulcer patients but in subjects without ulcer they were clearly lower fo