Background: A blister-packaged drug might be useful to enhance the eradication of Helicobacter pylori. We investigated the effect of a blister-packaged drug for H. pylori eradication. Methods: We treated 1,758 patients with H. pylori infections and evaluated the successful eradication rate in patients who underwent first-line eradication between January 2013 and May 2018. Treatments included a conventional proton pump inhibitor (PPI) blister-packaged drug containing lansoprazole or rabeprazole with clarithromycin (CAM) and amoxicillin (AC), vonoprazan (VPZ) with CAM and AC in a separate tablet, or a VPZ blister-packaged drug (VONOSAP) containing VPZ with CAM and AC, with all drugs given twice daily for 7 days. Results: Finally, we evaluated 1,263 patients (conventional PPI: n = 644, VPZ: n = 326, and VONOSAP: n = 293). The overall successful eradication rates were 71.9% in the conventional PPI group, 90.2% in the VPZ group, and 92.2% in the VONOSAP group. There was a significantly lower eradication rate in the PPI group than in the VPZ and VO-NOSAP (p < 0.00001, p < 0.0001) groups, but there was no significant difference between the VPZ and VONOSAP groups (p = 0.4006). We enrolled a total of 256 age-and gender-matched patients in the VPZ and VONOSAP groups, and both groups had successful eradication rates of approximately 90% (89.8 vs. 90.4%, respectively, p = 0.7641). After analyzing the subgroup of patients older than 75 years, there was a significant treatment benefit of VONOSAP but not of VPZ in elderly patients (EPs). Conclusion: Triple-drug blisterpackaged drugs including VPZ may improve the first-line eradication of H. pylori in EPs.

No abstract

Objective Treatment for uncomplicated diverticulitis (UD) is not well established. We evaluated the strategy of reviewing intravenous antibiotics for hospitalized Japanese patients with UD. Methods Treatment was based on the physician's choice until August 2018; the indications for hospitalization and treatment have been standardized since September 2018. In this study, we monitored the use of intravenous antibiotics administered to patients hospitalized for UD and then reviewed the need for them on hospital day 3. We compared patients' length of antibiotic use, hospital stay, health care cost, and complications via the review strategy from September 2018 to December 2020 and via the previous physicians' choice strategy from January 2016 to August 2018. Results Two hundred and forty-seven patients were admitted to our hospital because of acute colonic diverticulitis from January 2016 to December 2020. After excluding complicated cases, 106 individuals were enrolled during the period of physician's choice; 87 were enrolled when treatment review was employed. There were no significant differences in age, sex, inflammation site, or severity during the first hospital visit. The median duration of antibiotic use was significantly reduced from 5 to 4 days (p=0.0075), with no marked increase in rates of transfer to surgery, mortality, or readmission due to recurrence. A more significant proportion of patients completed 3-day antibiotic treatment with the review strategy than with the physician's choice strategy (6.6% vs. 25.3%, p=0.0004). However, the length of hospital stay and total medical costs did not decrease. ConclusionThe strategy of reviewing treatment on day 3 after hospitalization for UD safety reduced the duration of antibiotic use, but the hospital stay and health care costs did not decrease.

No abstract