title: The rapid urease test in the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection.
abstract: With the increasing recognition of the importance of H. pylori in gastrointestinal disease, there is a need for a reliable, efficient and yet inexpensive diagnostic test. The performance of the rapid urease test (RUT) as an endoscopy suite diagnostic test was compared to the established methods of culture, histology and Gram stain of tissue smear, in 274 gastric biopsy samples. Histology had the highest sensitivity of 99.3% followed by the RUT (96.6%). Culture and Gram stain of tissue smear had 100% specificity, while the rapid urease test had 99.2% specificity. The RUT had a positive predictive value of 99.3% and a negative predictive value of 96.2%. The RUT is an inexpensive, rapid and reliable diagnostic test of H. pylori infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University Hospital, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Goh
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Parasakthi
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Peh
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Puthucheary
authors.forename: N W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D004382:Duodenitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D005756:Gastritis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D014510:Urease / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014510:Urease