Review article
Urea Breath Test
Miroslava Katičić
Tajana Filipec
Vladimir Maričić
Abstract
Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is
very common throughout the world, occurring in 40-50% of the
population in developed countries and 80-90% of the population
in developing regions. This Gram-negative bacterium
plays a decisive role in the development of all kind of chronic
gastritis, predisposes to almost 80% of gastric and over 95%
of duodenal ulcers, and has been recognised as a class I gastric
carcinogen. Several techniques, both invasive and noninvasive,
have been developed to diagnose H. pylori infection.
The diagnosis has been traditionally based on endoscopy with
biopsies of the gastric mucosa for histology and culture (invasive
technique). In search for less intrusive methods, various
non-invasive H pylori testing have been developed, both for
diagnostic investigation, and for therapeutic monitoring after
eradication therapy. The most popular non-invasive test is
urea breath test (UBT), based on the detection of labelled carbon
dioxide (labelled with carbon-13 or carbon-14) in expired
air as a result of H pylori urease activity. Numerous variations
of the UBT have been successfully tested and validated, with
a sensitivity and specificity of over 95%. It is the non-invasive
test of choice for diagnosing active H. pylori infection as well
as for confirming eradication after treatment.
Keywords
urea breath test; rapid urease test; diagnostics; Helicobacter pylori
Hrčak ID:
20029
URI
Publication date:
25.9.2002.
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