title: Accurate diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori. 14C-urea breath test.
abstract: The 14C-urea breath test is an accurate means of identifying the presence of H. pylori infection before and after antimicrobial therapy. Several issues, including out of office analysis, the need for a support structure to perform the test, concerns regarding radiation exposure, and inconsistent reimbursement, have slowed the widespread acceptance of the 14C-urea breath test in clinical practice. Despite these problems, the 14C-urea breath test is simple, rapid, and relatively inexpensive compared with the currently available version of the 13C-urea breath test. As such, the 14C-urea breath test provides an attractive, nonendoscopic means of identifying active H. pylori infection.
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. wchey@umich.edu
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Chey
mesh_terms: D001944:Breath Tests / Q000379:methods*; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014508:Urea / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D014508:Urea