Role of probiotics in eradicational therapy of Helicobacter pylori

Probiotics are live microorganisms which in certain amounts have a beneficial effect on the host organism. The range of possible beneficial effects of probiotics is unusually wide and still not fully understood. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a bacterium adapted for living in the stomach and can cause the following diseases: ulcerative disease of stomach and/or duodenum, MALT type lymphoma, chronic atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia, gastric cancer, chronic sideropenic anaemia, chronic idiopathic purpura. Indications for diagnostic tests for H. pylori among children are symptoms suggesting organic disease of the gastrointestinal tract. Their intensity should justify eradicational therapy. “The gold standard” of infection diagnosis is a result of gastroscopy with gastric biopsy. Presence of changes in gastroscopy and H. pylori infection are indications for treatment. Treatment is based on a seven-day course of two antibiotics and proton pump inhibitor. It is a so-called “gold standard” of eradicational therapy whose effectiveness depends on many factors, including strain antibiotic sensitivity and patient compliance. Non-compliance is often associated with onerous side effects. Implementation of probiotics to standard therapy may be beneficial and influence the course of treatment and its outcome by increasing therapy effectiveness and due to this decreasing the risk of another course of treatment. Routine addition of probiotics to typical eradicational therapy of H. pylori seems to be justified.