Khenmedekh GO, Kim DH, Ryu DH, Yoo KC. Early postoperative negative conversion of Helicobacter pylori stool antigen after distal gastrectomy and potential host-related factors. World J Gastroenterol 2026; 32(28): 118887 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.118887]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dae Hoon Kim, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, 1 Chungdae-ro, Seowon-gu, Cheongju-si 28644, South Korea. roadangel@hanmail.net
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
research-article
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Gerelt-Od Khenmedekh, Dae Hoon Kim, Dong Hee Ryu, Kwon Cheol Yoo, Department of Surgery, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju-si 28644, South Korea
Dae Hoon Kim, Dong Hee Ryu, Kwon Cheol Yoo, Department of Surgery, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju-si 28644, South Korea
Author contributions: Khenmedekh GO and Kim DH contributed to data collection, methodology, and drafting and revision of the original manuscript; Kim DH designed the study and performed the data analysis; Ryu DH and Yoo KC provided supervision; all authors read and approved the final version.
AI contribution statement: AI tools were used only for language polishing and readability improvement of the author-written manuscript. They were not used to generate original scientific content, perform data analysis, design the study, interpret the results, or generate any figures or images.
Supported by the 2023 Chungbuk National University Academic Research Supporting Program.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Chungbuk National University Hospital (No. CBNUH IRB 2024-12-014-001).
Informed consent statement: Given the retrospective nature of the study the use of anonymized data, the requirement for signed informed consent was deemed not applicable.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Dae Hoon Kim, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, 1 Chungdae-ro, Seowon-gu, Cheongju-si 28644, South Korea. roadangel@hanmail.net
Received: January 14, 2026 Revised: February 5, 2026 Accepted: March 30, 2026 Published online: July 28, 2026 Processing time: 176 Days and 22.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: The early postoperative course of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) following distal gastrectomy remains poorly characterized. Using a standardized stool antigen test protocol, this study demonstrated that spontaneous H. pylori clearance occurs in approximately three-quarters of patients within 3 months after surgery. Among evaluated clinicopathological variables, a higher preoperative American Society of Anesthesiologists score was associated with spontaneous clearance, suggesting that host-related factors may influence early postoperative H. pylori dynamics. These findings provide clinically relevant insights that may help optimize postoperative surveillance strategies and inform the timing of eradication therapy after distal gastrectomy.
