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Background/Aims Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common chronic gastrointestinal disorder that typically requires long-term maintenance therapy. However, little is known about patient preferences and satisfaction and real-world prescription patterns regarding maintenance therapy for GERD. Methods This observational, cross-sectional, multicenter study involved patients from 18 referral hospitals in Korea. We surveyed patients who had been prescribed proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for GERD for at least 90 days with a minimum follow-up duration of 1 year. The main outcome was overall patient satisfaction with different maintenance therapy modalities. Results A total of 197 patients were enrolled. Overall patient satisfaction, patient preferences, and GERD health-related quality of life scores did not significantly differ among the maintenance therapy modality groups. However, the on-demand therapy group experienced a significantly longer disease duration than the continuous therapy group. The continuous therapy group demonstrated a lower level of awareness of potential adverse effects associated with PPIs than the on-demand therapy group but received higher doses of PPIs than the on-demand therapy group. The prescribed doses of PPIs also varied based on the phenotype of GERD, with higher doses prescribed for non-erosive reflux disease than erosive reflux disease. Conclusion Although overall patient satisfaction did not significantly differ among the different PPI maintenance therapy modality groups, awareness of potential adverse effects was significantly different between the on-demand and continuous therapy groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: We examined the efficacy and safety of tegoprazan as a part of first-line triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, controlled, multicenter study was performed to evaluate whether tegoprazan (50 mg)-based triple therapy (TPZ) was noninferior to lansoprazole (30 mg)- based triple therapy (LPZ) (with amoxicillin 1 g and clarithromycin 500 mg; all administered twice daily for 7 days) for treating H. pylori. The primary endpoint was the H. pylori eradication rate. Subgroup analyses were performed according to the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C19 genotype, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of amoxicillin and clarithromycin, and underlying gastric diseases. Results: In total, 350 H. pylori-positive patients were randomly allocated to the TPZ or LPZ group. The H. pylori eradication rates in the TPZ and LPZ groups were 62.86% (110/175) and 60.57% (106/175) in an intention-to-treat analysis and 69.33% (104/150) and 67.33% (101/150) in a per-protocol analysis (non-inferiority test, p=0.009 and p=0.013), respectively. Subgroup analyses according to MICs or CYP2C19 did not show remarkable differences in eradication rate. Both first-line triple therapies were well-tolerated with no notable differences. Conclusions: TPZ is as effective as proton pump inhibitor-based triple therapy and is as safe as first-line H. pylori eradication therapy but does not overcome the clarithromycin resistance of H. pylori in Korea (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03317223). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are essential for clinical decision making, conduction of clinical research, and drug application acquisition in functional gastrointestinal disorders. The aim of this study is to develop a PRO instrument and to determine the respondents' perception of the efficacy of therapeutic agents for functional dyspepsia (FD). Methods: A self-evaluation questionnaire for dyspepsia (SEQ-DYSPEPSIA) was developed and validated through a structured process. The 2-week reproducibility was evaluated, and the construct validity was assessed by correlating the scores of SEQ-DYSPEPSIA (including typical and major FD symptom subscales). Finally, the response to medication was assessed by comparing the changes after 4 weeks of treatment. Results: A total of 193 Korean patients (age 48.5 ± 13.6 years, 69.4% women) completed the questionnaire. SEQ-DYSPEPSIA with 11 items had a good internal consistency (alpha = 0.770-0.905) and an acceptable test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.733-0.859). The self-evaluation questionnaire (SEQ)-major FD score highly correlated with the postprandial fullness/early satiety domain of the Patient Assessment of Gastrointestinal Symptom Severity Index (correlation coefficient r = 0.741, P < 0.001), Nepean Dyspepsia Index-Korean version (NDI-K) (r = 0.839, P < 0.001), and NDI-K quality of life (r = -0.275 to -0.344, P < 0.001). After medical treatment, decrease in the SEQ-typical FD and SEQ-major FD was significantly greater in the responder group than in nonresponder group (P = 0.019 and P = 0.009, respectively). Conclusion: This study suggests that the Korean version of SEQ-DYSPEPSIA has good reliability and validity, and can be a useful PRO measurement tool in patients with FD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helicobacter pylori infection is one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide. Although the prevalence of H. pylori is gradually decreasing, approximately half of the world's population still becomes infected with this disease. H. pylori is responsible for substantial gastrointestinal morbidity worldwide, with a high disease burden. It is the most common cause of gastric and duodenal ulcers and gastric cancer. Since the revision of the H. pylori clinical practice guidelines in 2013 in Korea, the eradication rate of H. pylori has gradually decreased with the use of a clarithromycin-based triple therapy for 7 days. According to a nationwide randomized controlled study conducted by the Korean College of Helicobacter and Upper Gastrointestinal Research released in 2018, the intention-to-treat eradication rate was only 63.9%, which was mostly due to increased antimicrobial resistance, especially from clarithromycin. The clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of H. pylori were updated according to evidence-based medicine from a meta-analysis conducted on a target group receiving the latest level of eradication therapy. The draft recommendations developed based on the meta-analysis were finalized after an expert consensus on three recommendations regarding the indication for treatment and eight recommendations for the treatment itself. These guidelines were designed to provide clinical evidence for the treatment (including primary care treatment) of H. pylori infection to patients, nurses, medical school students, policymakers, and clinicians. These may differ from current medical insurance standards and will be revised if more evidence emerges in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a chronic upper gastrointestinal (GI) symptom complex that routine diagnostic work-up, such as endoscopy, blood laboratory analysis, or radiological examination, fails to identify a cause. It is highly prevalent in the World population, and its response to the various available therapeutic strategies is only modest because of the heterogenous nature of its pathogenesis. Therefore, FD represents a heavy medical burden for healthcare systems. We constituted a guideline development committee to review the existing guidelines on the management of functional dyspepsia. This committee drafted statements and conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of various studies, guidelines, and randomized control trials. External review was also conducted by selected experts. These clinical practice guidelines for FD were developed based on evidence recently accumulated with the revised version of FD guidelines released in 2011 by the Korean Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility. These guidelines apply to adults with chronic symptoms of FD and include the diagnostic role of endoscopy, Helicobacter pylori screening, and systematic review and meta-analyses of the various treatment options for FD (proton pump inhibitors, H. pylori eradication, and tricyclic antidepressants), especially according to the FD subtype. The purpose of these new guidelines is to aid the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of FD, and the targets of the guidelines are clinicians, healthcare workers at the forefront of patient care, patients, and medical students. The guidelines will continue to be revised and updated periodically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims The detection of early esophageal cancer which is treatable with endoscopy can improve prognosis and the quality of life. And there is few large studies into the treatment of local progressive cancer. This study was aimed to analyze the treatment and prognosis of esophageal cancer in the hospital cohort over a 10-year period in Korea. Methods This historical hospital cohort was recruited by 19 referral hospitals nationwide for newly diagnosed esophageal cancer patients from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2017. The cancer stage was defined according to the seventh edition of American Joint Committee on Cancer. Results The newly-diagnosed esophageal cancer patients was 6,354 and the mean age was 64.9±9.0 and mostly squamous cell cancer (96.9%). Early esophageal cancer was more frequently detected recently from 24.7% in 2005 to 37.2% in 2015 (p<0.001). In all stage, esophagectomy was performed in 52.3% (3,321/6,354) and endoscopic resection was undergoing in 5.8%, neoadjuvant therapy in 12.4%, adjuvant therapy in 11.1% and definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in 27.0%. The overall 5-year survival was 45.7%± 0.7%. Endoscopic resection showed similar median survival compared to patients who underwent surgery in stage Ia. In stage II-III, definitive CCRT was associated with poor survival compared with neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy; however, there was no difference between neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy. Conclusions Early esophageal cancer is gradually increasing and endoscopic resection showed a similar long-term survival with surgery. In locally advanced cancer, surgery and/or chemoradiotherapy was more chosen recently with survival benefit compared to the definitive CCRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]