Editor,—Helicobacter pylori infection affects gastric acid secretion of the host in various ways. For example, corpus gastritis and subsequent development of mucosal atrophy induced by H pyloriinfection result in decreased acid secretion.1 In contrast, several investigators have reported elevated acid secretion in patients with duodenal ulcer (DU) which is decreased byH pylori eradication with simultaneous reduction of serum gastrin.2 ,3 Supporting these data, Iijima et al ((2000) Gut 46:20–6; OpenUrlPubMedWeb of Science) reported that eradication ofH pylori was accompanied by an increase in acid secretion in patients with gastric ulcer (GU) in whom corpus gastritis and/or atrophy are frequently observed, whereas acid secretion decreased after eradication in those with DU. However, in countries such as Japan where corpus gastritis and mucosal atrophy are common among patients infected with H pylori, the situation is not as simple.

We performed a similar study by measuring basal acid output (BAO) and maximum acid output (MAO) using pentagastrin administration before and six months after eradication in Japanese patients with GU (n=21) and DU (n=22). In both …