Helicobacter pylori infection increases risk of bleeding during endoscopic submucosal dissection for early gastric cancer.

Background: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is commonly used to treat early gastric cancer (EGC). The effects of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection on ESD and the potential benefits of preoperative eradication of HP remain unclear. The study aims to evaluate the impact of HP infection on bleeding and lesion detection during ESD in patients with EGC.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 634 consecutive patients who underwent ESD for EGC at our center between January 2018 and January 2023. Logistic regression was used to assess the impact of HP infection status on intraoperative bleeding and lesion detection rates. We developed a predictive model based on selected indicators and evaluated its performance using the ROC curve.

Results: HP-positive patients experienced a higher rate of intraoperative bleeding (28.8%) compared with HP-negative patients (8.9%) (P < 0.001). HP-positive patients also had longer procedure time (median: 58.5 vs. 50.0 min, P < 0.001) and postoperative hospital stays (median: 4.35 vs. 4.07 days, P = 0.036). Multivariate analysis identified HP-positive (OR = 4.84), multiple lesions (OR = 1.81), specimen size > 40 mm (OR = 3.67), and submucosal invasion (OR = 2.27) as independent risk factors for intraoperative bleeding. The predictive model achieved an AUC of 0.807 (95%CI 0.761-0.852), with a sensitivity of 72.1% and specificity of 75.9%. Preoperative HP eradication was associated with an increased rate of lesion detection (OR = 2.82).

Conclusions: Eradicating HP before ESD in patients with EGC reduces intraoperative bleeding and improves lesion detection. Preoperative HP eradication is therefore recommended in patients with EGC.