Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and intestinal metaplasia in subjects who had undergone surgery for gastric adenocarcinoma in Northwest Italy.

Aim: To investigate the seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection and its more virulent strains as well as the correlation with the histologic features among patients who had undergone surgery for gastric cancer (GC).

Methods: Samples from 317 (184 males, 133 females, mean age 69+/-3.4 years) consecutive patients who had undergone surgery for gastric non-cardia adenocarcinoma were included in the study.