An optimized 13C-urea breath test for the diagnosis of H pylori infection

To validate an optimized (13)C-urea breath test ((13)C-UBT) protocol for the diagnosis of H pylori infection that is cost-efficient and maintains excellent diagnostic accuracy.

70 healthy volunteers were tested with two simplified (13)C-UBT protocols, with test meal (Protocol 2) and without test meal (Protocol 1). Breath samples were collected at 10, 20 and 30 min after ingestion of 50 mg (13)C-urea dissolved in 10 mL of water, taken as a single swallow, followed by 200 mL of water (pH 6.0) and a circular motion around the waistline to homogenize the urea solution. Performance of both protocols was analyzed at various cut-off values. Results were validated against the European protocol.

According to the reference protocol, 65.7% individuals were positive for H pylori infection and 34.3% were negative. There were no significant differences in the ability of both protocols to correctly identify positive and negative H pylori individuals. However, only Protocol 1 with no test meal achieved accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of 100%. The highest values achieved by Protocol 2 were 98.57%, 97.83%, 100%, 100% and 100%, respectively.

A 10 min, 50 mg (13)C-UBT with no test meal using a cut-off value of 2-2.5 is a highly accurate test for the diagnosis of H pylori infection at a reduced cost.