Successful isolation of Helicobacter pylori after prolonged incubation from a patient with failed eradication therapy.

Helicobacter pylori (H pylori), a gastric pathogen, is a major cause of chronic gastritis and peptic ulcer disease, and is an important risk factor for the development of gastric malignancies. Culture of the bacterium from gastric biopsy is essential for the determination of drug resistance of H pylori. However, the isolation rates of H pylori from infected individuals vary from 23.5% to 97% due to a number of factors such as biopsy preparation, cultural environment, medium and the method adopted. In the present case, we found that a prolonged incubation period of up to 19 d allowed successful isolation of H pylori from a patient who received triple therapy that failed to eradicate the bacterium.