Endoscopic 13C-urea breath test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection.
BACKGROUND
Endoscopic 13C-urea breath test may avoid contamination of oral urease and rapidly discriminate Helicobacter pylori-positive and Helicobacter pylori-negative patients.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the accuracy of endoscopic 13C-urea breath test with conventional invasive methods in diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection.


METHODS
One hundred patients who attended for routine upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were included.


METHODS
13C-urea was applied to the stomach through the working channel of endoscope at the end of endoscopic examination. Breath samples were collected before endoscopy and 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 min after consumption of 100 or 50 mg 13C-urea. Helicobacter pylori infection was defined as those with positive culture or positive results of both histology and CLO test.


RESULTS
The accuracy of 100 mg endoscopic 13C-urea breath test was significantly higher than that of culture and CLO test (100% vs. 88% and 92%, p = 0.02 and 0.03, respectively). The accuracy of 50 mg endoscopic 13C-urea breath test was higher than that of histology and CLO test (98% vs. 90% and 96%, respectively), although the differences were not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Endoscopic 13C-urea breath test has a higher accuracy compared with biopsy-based modalities. It may be a good choice to diagnose Helicobacter pylori infection if endoscopy is indicated for a dyspeptic patient.
Peng
N J
NJ
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, 386 Chung 1st Road, Kaohsiung, 813, Taiwan, ROC.
Lai
K H
KH
Liu
R S
RS
Lee
S C
SC
Tsay
D G
DG
Lo
C C
CC
Tseng
H H
HH
Huang
W K
WK
Lo
G H
GH
Hsu
P I
PI
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001944:Breath Tests; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013272:Stomach Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014508:Urea
D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D014508:Urea