[S2k-guideline Helicobacter pylori and gastroduodenal ulcer disease]

Quality appraisal of clinical guidelines for Helicobacter pylori infection and systematic analysis of the level of evidence for recommendations

OBJECTIVES

To systematically assess the quality of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection and identify gaps that limit their development.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

CPGs for HP infection were systematically collected from PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and six online guideline repositories. Three researchers independently used the AGREE Ⅱ tool to evaluate the methodological quality of the eligible CPGs. In addition, the reporting and recommendation qualities were appraised by using the RIGHT and AGREE-REX tools, respectively. The distribution of the level of evidence and strength of recommendation among evidence-based CPGs was determined.

RESULTS

A total of 7,019 records were identified, and 24 CPGs met the eligibility criteria. Of the eligible CPGs, 19 were evidence-based and 5 were consensus-based. The mean overall rating score of AGREE II was 50.7% (SD = 17.2%). Among six domains, the highest mean score was for scope and purpose (74.4%, SD = 17.7%) and the lowest mean score was for applicability (24.3%, SD = 8.9). Only three of 24 CPGs were high-quality. The mean overall score of recommendation quality was 35.5% (SD = 12.2%), and the mean scores in each domain of AGREE-REX and RIGHT were all ≤ 60%, with values and preferences scoring the lowest (16.6%, SD = 11.9%). A total of 505 recommendations were identified. Strong recommendations accounted for 64.1%, and only 34.3% of strong recommendations were based on high-quality evidence.

CONCLUSION

The overall quality of CPGs for HP infection is poor, and CPG developers tend to neglect some domains, resulting in a wide variability in the quality of the CPGs. Additionally, CPGs for HP infection lack sufficient high-quality evidence, and the grading of recommendation strength should be based on the quality of evidence. The CPGs for HP infection have much room for improvement and further researches are required to minimize the evidence gap.

[Quality management in the field of gastroenterology - Proposals of the Quality Commission of the German Society of Gastroenterology, Digestive and Metabolic Diseases (DGVS) for Outpatient and Inpatient Quality Assurance]

The quality of the medical care depends on numerous factors that can often be influenced by the doctor itself. It is a great challenge to follow the constant scientific progress in practice. Scientific standards in gastroenterology are defined in DGVS guidelines and regularly revised. The implementation of evidence-based recommendations in practice remains challenging. On the basis of the DGVS guidelines, the Quality Commission has therefore developed a selection of quality indicators with particular relevance using standardized criteria, the broad implementation of which could contribute to improved patient care in gastroenterology.

Helicobacter pylori Eradication Therapy for Functional Dyspepsia: A Meta-Analysis by Region and H. pylori Prevalence

Background: Previous studies on the effect of Helicobacter pylori eradication on functional dyspepsia (FD) are conflicting. We performed a comprehensive meta-analysis on this issue according to region and prevalence of H. pylori. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect of eradication of H. pylori on functional dyspepsia up to December 2018 were searched through PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library. Subgroup analyses by the outcome measure, region, and prevalence of H. pylori were performed. All data were analyzed with Review Manager 5.3. Results: Eighteen RCTs were included in our meta-analysis. Overall, the H. pylori eradication group showed significant improvement of symptoms compared with the control group (risk ratio (RR) = 1.18; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07–1.30, p < 0.01). There was moderate heterogeneity among studies (I² = 34%) and the number needed to treat (NNT) was 15.0. Helicobacter pylori eradication improved dyspeptic symptoms both in low (<50%) and high (≥50%) H. pylori prevalence regions (RR = 1.21 and 1.17; 95% CI: 1.02–1.44 and 1.06–1.29, I² = 49% and 5%, respectively.) In the analysis of studies from Asia, however, the effect of eradication on improvement of dyspepsia was not significant (RR = 1.14; 95% CI: 0.99–1.33, p = 0.08, I² = 37%). Conclusion: Overall, H. pylori eradication provides significant improvement of symptoms in functional dyspepsia patients regardless of H. pylori prevalence. However, in the analysis of studies from Asia, the eradication did not significantly improve dyspeptic symptoms. In this region, eradication for dyspepsia can be individualized.

Perioperative Therapy of Oesophagogastric Adenocarcinoma: Mainstay and Future Directions

Perioperative chemotherapy improves overall survival in patients with oesophagogastric adenocarcinoma (OAC) and locoregional disease. The mainstay of perioperative chemotherapy in these patients is a platinum/fluoropyrimidine combination. The phase III FLOT4 trial has shown that the FLOT triplet regimen (oxaliplatin, infusional 5-FU, and docetaxel) improves the outcome of patients with OAC and locoregional disease as compared to the ECF triplet (epirubicin, cisplatin, and infusional 5-FU). Targeted therapies have currently no role in the perioperative setting for the treatment of patients with OAC. For patients with oligometastatic disease, upfront gastrectomy followed by chemotherapy did not show any survival benefit compared with chemotherapy alone and thus should be discouraged. Whether surgery should be offered to patients with metastatic OAC achieving a systemic control after upfront chemotherapy is under scrutiny in the phase III FLOT5/Renaissance trial. After neoadjuvant treatment, lymph node status but not pathologic tumor response is an independent factor in the prediction of overall survival. Growing evidence suggests that perioperative chemotherapy may be associated with an increased mortality risk in patients with microsatellite instable (MSI)/mismatch repair-deficient (MMRD) adenocarcinoma, thus validating poor responsiveness to chemotherapy in MSI patients with locoregional disease.