Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test.
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.
Gulcan
E Mahir
EM
SSK Bakirkoy Maternity and Children's Training Hospital, Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Istanbul, Turkey. mahirgulcan@superonline.com
Varol
Aydin
A
Kutlu
Tufan
T
Cullu
Fugen
F
Erkan
Tulay
T
Adal
Erdal
E
Ulucakli
Onder
O
Erdamar
Sibel
S
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
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial