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Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test
E Mahir Gulcan1, Aydin Varol, Tufan Kutlu
1SSK Bakirkoy Maternity and Children's Training Hospital, Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Istanbul, Turkey. mahirgulcan@superonline.com
Insights
A new stool antigen test (HpSA) accurately detects Helicobacter pylori infections in children with recurrent abdominal pain. This noninvasive method is a reliable and cost-effective alternative to traditional diagnostic approaches.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Gastroenterology
- Infectious Diseases
- Diagnostic Microbiology
Background:
- Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is common in childhood and often diagnosed using invasive endoscopic methods.
- Endoscopic procedures for H. pylori diagnosis are costly, inconvenient, and carry risks of complications.
- There is a need for reliable, noninvasive diagnostic tools for H. pylori in pediatric populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the diagnostic performance of a novel noninvasive stool antigen test for H. pylori.
- To assess the utility of the H. pylori stool antigen test (HpSA) in children experiencing recurrent abdominal pain.
- To compare HpSA results against established gold-standard diagnostic methods.
Main Methods:
- Eighty children with recurrent abdominal pain underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.
- The H. pylori stool antigen test (HpSA), utilizing sandwich enzyme immunoassay, was performed.
- HpSA sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated against histology and rapid urease test results.
Main Results:
- H. pylori infection was confirmed in 49 out of 80 children (61%) via gold-standard tests.
- The HpSA correctly identified 48 of the 49 infected children and all 28 non-infected children.
- HpSA demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy: 98% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% positive predictive value, and 96.5% negative predictive value.
Conclusions:
- The H. pylori stool antigen test (HpSA) is a highly reliable, noninvasive diagnostic method for H. pylori.
- HpSA offers a simple, cost-effective, and time-saving alternative for diagnosing H. pylori infections in children.
- This test is suitable for use in pediatric patients presenting with recurrent abdominal pain.
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.
Conclusion:
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.
