London (PTI): Eradicating a common bacterium in post-operative stomach cancer patients could reduce the risk of relapse of the disease, a new study has revealed. The bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, believed to be the common cause of most stomach ulcers, has also been classed as one of the leading causes of stomach cancer by World Health Organisation (WHO).

Previous studies on eradicating H. pylori as a method of preventing further stomach cancers in patients who actually underwent surgery have been conflicting. Now, a team in Japan has confirmed that the strategy could be very useful. "We believe that our data add to those from previous studies showing a causal relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric cancer, and also support the use of H. pylori eradication to prevent the development of gastric cancer," lead researcher Mototsugu Kato said.

Kato and colleagues at Hokkaido University came to the conclusion after analysing 550 patients who had stomach cancer surgery -- they found after operation when antibiotics were used to kill the bug, the risk of the disease redeveloping was cut by two-third, the 'BBC portal' reported.

In the study, half of the patients were treated with a course of drugs to eradicate H. pylori while the rest received dummy pills and were then examined at six, 12, 24, 36 months to see if the cancer had reappeared in a different site.

After three years, a second stomach cancer had developed in nine patients in the eradication group compared with 24 in the control group. Overall, the risk of developing cancer was reduced by 65 per cent with H. pylori treatment, the study found. The results of the study have been published in 'The Lancet' journal.