Comparison of the Efficacy of Two-Week Vonoprazan Versus Lansoprazole-Based Quadruple Sequential Antibiotic Therapy in Eradicating Helicobacter pylori Infection: A Non-randomized Clinical Trial

Aim: The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori is escalating in developing countries, exacerbated by unjustified antibiotic usage, which leads to increased resistance. This trend has been notably amplified since the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, the effectiveness of existing eradication regimens has been compromised. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of two weeks of vonoprazan-based quadruple sequential therapy and lansoprazole-based quadruple sequential therapy in treating H. pylori infection. Methods: A non-randomized clinical trial was conducted over 18 months at the Department of Gastroenterology, Lahore General Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. It included patients presenting with dyspepsia, as defined by the Rome IV criteria, and who tested positive on the urea breath test. Patients were divided into two groups, i.e., Group A and Group B. Group A patients received lansoprazole 30 mg + amoxicillin + tinidazole + tab. colloidal bismuth subcitrate for the first seven days, followed by lansoprazole + levofloxacin + azithromycin + colloidal bismuth subcitrate. Group B patients received vonoprazan + amoxicillin + tinidazole + colloidal bismuth subcitrate for the first seven days, followed by vonoprazan + levofloxacin + azithromycin + colloidal bismuth subcitrate. Both regimes continued for 14 days. Four weeks after 14 days of the treatment, an early morning urea breath test was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment. Patients were scheduled for follow-up visits at seven and 14 days post-treatment initiation to record adverse events and assess compliance with the treatment regimen. Patients who lost the follow-up and remained non-compliant to the medications were excluded from the final data analysis as per standard protocols of the per-protocol analysis. Results: A total of 252 patients were included. In Group A and Group B, 6/126 (4.76%) and 8/126 (6.35%) of the patients were lost to follow-up, respectively. The non-compliance rate in Group A was 5/126 (3.97%), compared to Group B with 3/126 (2.38%). Finally, the per-protocol analysis of the results included 115 patients in each group. Baseline characteristics, including demographics, lifestyle, and clinical factors, were comparable between groups with p-values of 0.138 for age, 0.356 for gender, 0.126 for BMI, 0.495 for residence, 0.500 for water source, 0.866 for meal habit, 0.863 for smoking, 0.188 for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use, 0.145 for proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use, 0.213 for antibiotics, and 0.456 for treatment history. Both treatments effectively eradicated H. pylori, as determined by a negative urea breath test at four weeks post-treatment, with Group B showing a higher eradication rate of 96.5% compared to 92.2% in Group A, although the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.153). There was no difference in adverse effects in both treatment groups (p-value > 0.05). Conclusion: The study found that while the vonoprazan-based regime exhibited a slightly higher eradication rate of H. pylori compared to lansoprazole, the difference was not statistically significant. It was concluded that both regimens demonstrated comparable efficacy and similar profiles of adverse effects in treating H. pylori infection.