부산대학교 도서관

Because of the strong humoral immune response that accompanies H. pylori infection, serological detection of anti-H. pylori antibodies, particularly IgG, have been considered as a reliable tool for diagnosing recent infection as well as assessing chronic infectious state. Actually, little has been mentioned, about the value of assessing IgM before and after a proper course of antibiotic therapy against H. pylori.in the current study we tried to evaluate such role by measuring serum IgM before and after anti-H. pylori therapy in a group of Iraqi patients with documented H. pylori infection. The current prospective study was carried out in Adiwaniyah province, a mid- Euphrates region of Iraq and included 317 patients with dyspeptic symptoms with high clinical suspicion of H. pylori. The age range of those patients was from 19 to 67 years and the study included 200 male and 1 17 female patients. Those patients were treated with anti-H. pylori antibiotic regimen according to medical textbook guidelines and before starting treatment a venous blood sample was sent to the laboratory in order to measure the level of ant- H. pylori IgM antibody. After the end of a single course of antibiotic therapy, every patient was subjected to another serological test of the IgM level. The IgM level was assessed by ELISA according to the instruction of the providing company. The study included 317 patients, 200 men and 1 17 women with a mean age of 35.61 ±10.13 years. Most of the patients were from urban areas. The majority of patients were employed or students; however, a substantial proportion of them was unemployed or retired. Illiteracy accounted for a substantial proportion of the study sample 25.6 %. The mean body mass index was 26.51 ±7.81 kg/m² with a range of 21.03 - 39.91 kg/m². The mean serum IgM level was 55.22 ±16.50 U/ml before treatment and has been reduced to 36.75 ±6.05 U/ml after treatment; the reduction was highly significant (P< 0.001).It appears that the serological evaluation of serum IgM before initiation of anti-H. pylori antibiotic course and after completing that course is a promising method to assess treatment response; however, much research work is needed to get a clear consensus about such a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]