Korean J Gastroenterol.  2002 Nov;40(5):301-306.

C-Urea Breath Test to Detect Helicobacter pylori Infection: Comparision between Infrared Spectrometer and Mass Spectrometer Analyses

• Jung JS
• Cho JY
• Cheon GJ
• Hong SJ
• Jang JY
• Ryu KH
• Cha SW
• Ryu CB
• Kim JO
• Lee JS
• Lee MS
• Shim CS
• Kim BS

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The 13C-urea breath test (UBT) has become a highly sensitive and specific, noninvasive method to diagnose the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. In this study, we compared the accuracy of an isotope-selective nondispersive infrared spectrometer (INIS) and conventional isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) in the UBT for H. pylori detection.
METHODS
Fifty-one dyspeptic patients underwent endoscopy for H. pylori culture, histology and rapid urease test (CLO-test). The presence of H. pylori infection was justified as the case that showed positive results in any two of the above tests. All the patients received UBT with duplicate breath samples collected at baseline and 30 min after ingestion of 75 mg 13C-urea. Then, we analyzed the DOB30 (delta over baseline at 30 min), sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of UBT using IRMS and INIS, respectively.
RESULTS
The mean values of DOB30 were similar in IRMS method and INIS method (r=0.994. p<0.001). UBT using both IRMS and INIS achieved exactly the same sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value.
CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that INIS can be considered a valid alternative to the IRMS in analysis of 13C-urea breath samples for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection.

Keyword

Mass spectrometer; Infrared spectrometer; Urea breath test

MeSH Terms

Breath Tests*
Diagnosis
Eating
Endoscopy
Helicobacter pylori*
Helicobacter*
Humans
Sensitivity and Specificity
Urease
Urease