The impact of Helicobacter pylori on basic science and the clinical management of patients with the complications of this infection is bewildering. The explosion of new information both in the laboratory and at the bedside has progressed at an unprecedented rate. Our main objective in furthering this progress has been to integrate this new information and organize a series of top-quality presentations and discussions between investigators and clinicians on all aspects of H. pylori research and to review the current position and future research directions. To that end, the second meeting 'Helicobacter pylori: Basic Mechanisms to Clinical Cure' was organized in June 1996 in Ottawa, Canada, following the successful format of the first such meeting held in Amelia Island, Florida, in 1993. The meeting again focused on all timely aspects of H. pylori research. Internationally renowned basic and clinical scientists, all experts in their respective fields, explored in depth the spectrum of H. pylori infection and the related complications of gastritis, peptic ulcer, gastric cancer and lymphoma.