Patients with Helicobacter pylori infection and a family history of gastric cancer face a lower risk for gastric cancer themselves if their H. pylori is treated, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Roughly 1,800 adults in South Korea who had first-degree relatives with gastric cancer and who screened positive for H. pylori infection were randomised to H. pylori treatment (amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and lansoprazole) or placebo for 7 days.

During a median follow-up of 9 years, the treatment group was significantly less likely than the placebo group to develop gastric cancer (1.2% vs. 2.7%).