Microdose 14C-urea breath test in detection of Helicobacter pylori

Etiologic role for Helicobacter pylori (Hp) seems to be well established in gastric pathology. The high urease activity of Hp can be used to detect this bacterium by non-invasive urea breath tests (UBT). We validated the microdose version of the test in which 37 kBq 14C-urea is given orally in capsule. With the cut off value > 100 DPM as positive, UBT results correlated highly significant with combined results for invasive methods i.e. CLOtest + histology score. The reproducibility of the test was 100%. The results obtained for the breath test performed locally were almost identical with that read at remote laboratory. The data found for fasting and fed states of subjects agreed in 87%. When 14C-urea was confined in the mouth of both Hp positive and Hp negative patients UBT showed the presence of urease activity in the mouth cavity. 14C-urea capsule based breath test is highly reliable, safe, and reproducible for detection of Hp in the stomach. Results can be obtained within 15 min if a scintilation counter is nearby, or breath samples can be mailed to a testing laboratory for analysis.