Helicobacter pylori Antibody Titer and Gastric Cancer Screening

Figure 4

Time course of changes of the H. pylori antibody titer in successfully eradicated cases (classified as Grade A, although these cases should be excluded by medical interview in the ABC method). After successful eradication of H. pylori, the antibody titer decreases due to disappearance of H. pylori from the gastric mucosa, and from that point, the degree of atrophic grade progresses no further. Thus, a defined risk for gastric cancer persists throughout the lifetime of these patients, because a certain degree of gastric mucosal atrophy exists even after infection eradication. Therefore, eradicated cases should not be included as candidates in the ABC method, and they will require surveillance by endoscopy.