Korean J Nucl Med.  2005 Feb;39(1):21-25.

Comparison of the Diagnostic Performance of 14C-urea Breath Test According to Counting Method for the Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori Infection

• Kim MW
• Lim ST
• Lee SO
• Sohn MH

Abstract

PURPOSE
14C-urea breath test (UBT) is a non-invasive and reliable method for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection. In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of a new and rapid 14C-UBT (Heliprobe method), which was equipped with Geiger-Muller counter and compared the results with those obtained by using the conventional method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-nine patients with dyspepsia underwent gastroduodenoscopy and 14C-UBT. A 37 KBq 14C-urea capsule was administered to patients and breath samples were collected. In Heliprobe method, patients exhaled into a Heliprobe BreathCard for 10 min. And then the activities of the BreathCard were countered using Heliprobe analyzer. In the conventional method, results were countered using liquid scintillation counter. During gastroduodenoscopy, 18 of 49 patients were underwent biopsies. According to these histologic results, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of two different methods and compared them. Also we evaluated the concordant and disconcordant rates between them. RESULTS: In all 49 patients, concordant rate of both conventional and Heliprobe methods was 98% (48/49) and the discordant rate was 2% (1/49). Thirteen of 18 patients to whom biopsies were applied, were found to be HP positive on histologic results. And both Heliprobe method and conventional method classified 13 of 13 HP-positive patients and 5 of 5 HP-negative patients correctly (sensitivity 100%, specificity 100%, accuracy 100%). CONCLUSION: The Heliprobe method demonstrated the same diagnostic performance compared with the conventional method and was a simpler and more rapid technique.

Keyword

Helicobacter pylori; 14C urea breath test; Peptic ulcer disease

MeSH Terms

Biopsy
Breath Tests*
Diagnosis*
Dyspepsia
Helicobacter pylori*
Helicobacter*
Humans
Scintillation Counting
Sensitivity and Specificity