title: [Diagnosis of bacterial contamination of the small intestine using the 1 g [14C] xylose breath test in various gastrointestinal diseases].
abstract: The prevalence of the small intestine bacterial overgrowth syndrome has been assessed in 109 in-patients affected by various gastrointestinal disorders using the 1 g [14C]-xylose breath test; 18 healthy subjects acted as a control group: none of them showed abnormal results (100% specificity). None of 14 patients with colonic disease had abnormal results, whereas in 44 patients with ileal diseases the test was positive in 12% to 39% of the cases. Abnormal results were found in 46% of patients who underwent partial gastric resection greater than 20 years before, 29% of patients with irritable bowel syndrome without diarrhoea (faecal wet weight less than or equal to 600 g/72 h), 56% of those with diarrhoea of obscure origin, and 25% of celiac patients. Eight out of 8 patients with altered results showed normalization of the test after antibiotic therapy. Despite its high diagnostic value in the setting of clinical research, the 1 g [14C]-xylose breath test cannot as yet be proposed as a routine investigation.
authors.affiliation: Divisione di Gastroenterologia, Ospedale Mauriziano Umberto I di Torino.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galatola
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grosso
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barlotta
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ferraris
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rovera
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ariano
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cottino
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De La Pierre
mesh_terms: D001944:Breath Tests; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D003109:Colonic Diseases, Functional / Q000209:etiology; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007082:Ileum / Q000601:surgery; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000382:microbiology*; D012007:Rectum / Q000601:surgery; D013270:Stomach / Q000601:surgery; D014994:Xylose
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D014994:Xylose
vernacular_title: La diagnosi di contaminazione batterica del tenue mediante il test respiratorio con 1 g di [14C] xilosio in varie patologie gastrointestinali.