Pre-operative screening of Helicobacter pylori in bariatric patients: is histopathological analysis necessary?

Abstract

Background – Helicobacter pylori infection has been reported to lead to post-operative complications after bariatric surgery (BS), especially marginal ulcers. The optimal method for pre-operative screening is yet to be determined. Objective – To analyze the diagnostic accuracy of the endoscopic urease test for the detection of H. pylori in individuals undergoing BS and the main endoscopic and histological changes within this population. Methods – A cross-sectional study was carried out based on a database from medical records of 232 individuals who underwent BS between 2016 and 2019 at a tertiary university hospital. Clinical, anthropometric, and endoscopic data were analyzed. The gold-standard method considered to calculate diagnostic accuracy variables was histopathological examination through hematoxylin-eosin/Giemsa stains. Results – 87.5% of the participants were female; mean age was 38.5±9.5 years and average body mass index was 37.6±3.8 kg/m2. The commonest endoscopic finding was gastritis (50.9%) with a predominance of the mild erosive form (25%). Upon histological examination, 59.1% of the participants had confirmed H. pylori infection. H. pylori infection was associated with higher frequencies of endoscopic duodenitis (23.4% vs 12.6%; P=0.04), histological chronic gastritis (100% vs 56.8%; P<0.0001) and histological acute gastritis (58.4% vs 2.1%; P<0.0001). The urease test had a sensitivity of 79.6% and a specificity of 97.9%, leading to an overall accuracy of 87.1%. Conclusion – The endoscopic urease test is highly accurate for pre-operative screening of H. pylori infection in individuals who undergo BS. H. pylori infection was significantly associated with endoscopic (duodenitis) and histopathological (chronic and active gastritis) changes.