H. pylori Infection and Treatment for Early Gastric Cancer in Japan

This review describes the following issues: H. pylori infection rate and features of background gastric mucosa of early gastric cancer patients; the relationship between H. pylori infection and the development of gastric cancer in Japan; inhibition of the development and growth of gastric cancer by eradication of H. pylori in human and animal model; and finally, the morphologic and functional change of gastric mucosa by eradication. There is a higher incidence of gastric cancer in Japan than in the West, and this is suspected to be associated with the rapid rate of corpus gastritis development, which is associated with chronic corpus atrophic gastritis and the increased risk of gastric cancer. There have been several evidences that eradication of H. pylori pushes towards the direction in which the development and growth of cancer in gastric mucosa is inhibited. It is now expected that gastric cancer prevention by eradication of H. pylori will be established in the near future in Japan.