Noninvasive detection of Helicobacter pylori infection in clinical practice: the 13C urea breath test.

Abstract

The test kit results were highly reproducible. The cut-off values were higher with 250-mg compared with 125-mg doses of 13C urea and 40 min compared with 30 min. Using a 125-mg 13C urea and test detection limit of 2.4% at 30 min, the accuracy was 94.8 (95% confidence interval = 92-97%) before antimicrobial therapy and 95.4% (95% confidence interval = 91-98%) after. An increase of 2.4% in the abundance of breath 13CO2 measured 30 min after a 125-mg dose of 13C urea reliably indicated the presence of active H.pylori infection either before or after antimicrobial therapy. The 13C urea breath test provides a simple and reliable and noninvasive method of assessing H.pylori status.