Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection.
If we had to give a general view of the articles published in the year 2010, we should conclude that the evidence in the year 2010 suggests that, also in Helicobacter pylori diagnosis, "the devil is in the details". In this sense, different studies suggested that skipping citric acid pretreatment or local validation or reducing the (13) C-urea dose markedly decreases the accuracy of the urea breath test. The studies also implied that, even between monoclonal stool tests, there are large differences between the marketed tests. Finally, even histology does not work adequately in patients with gastric cancer or extensive areas of intestinal metaplasia. In these cases, specific gastric sites should be biopsied to improve the reliability of histology.
Digestive Diseases Department, Hospital de Sabadell, Institut Universitari Parc Taulí, Departament de Medicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Xavier
X
Calvet
Philippe
P
Lehours
Sergio
S
Lario
Francis
F
Mégraud
D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D010336:Pathology / Q000379:methods*