title: Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Helicobacter pylori ( H.pylori ) infection is usually acquired in early childhood. Invasive techniques used for diagnosis of H.pylori infection require endoscopic examination which is expensive and inconvenient and may cause complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a new noninvasive diagnostic method, stool antigen test for H.pylori in untreated children with recurrent abdominal pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty children (35 female, 45 male) who have undergone upper gastrointestinal endoscopy due to recurrent abdominal pain were included in the study. The H.pylori stool antigen test (HpSA) is based on a sandwich enzyme immunoassay with antigen detection. HpSA sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were determined with reference to the results of both histology and rapid urease test as a gold standard ( H. pylori status).
  
  
  RESULTS
  While 49 of the 80 children (61%) tested were positive for H.pylori according to the results of both histology and rapid urease test, 28 children had negative H.pylori status. Among those 49 children, 48 were found to be positive by HpSA. Of 28 patients with negative H.pylori status, 28 were H.pylori -negative also in the stool test. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of HpSA were found to be 98%, 100%, 100%, and 96.5%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings have demonstrated that HpSA as a relatively simple, inexpensive and time saving noninvasive test is a reliable method for detection of H.pylori infections in children.
authors.affiliation: SSK Bakirkoy Maternity and Children's Training Hospital, Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Istanbul, Turkey. mahirgulcan@superonline.com
authors.forename: E Mahir
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Gulcan
authors.forename: Aydin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varol
authors.forename: Tufan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kutlu
authors.forename: Fugen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cullu
authors.forename: Tulay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Erkan
authors.forename: Erdal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Adal
authors.forename: Onder
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ulucakli
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Erdamar
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology; D000293:Adolescent; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D005773:Gastroscopy; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial