Abstract

Background
/Aims: Urea breath test (UBT), the noninvasive test for diagnosing Helicobacter pylori infection, was developed in 1987 and had advanced in accuracy and convenience by improvement of analytic device, ¹³C or ¹⁴C urea regimen, expiration sampling protocol and test meal. However, conventional UBT using 75 mg or 100 mg of ¹³C-urea is expensive and time consuming. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of UBT using capsulated 38 mg low dose ¹³C-urea (HeliFinder^Ⱂ) developed by Medichems Co., Ltd. Methods: A total of one hundred forty seven volunteers were enrolled and examined at Catholic University, Korea University, and Soon Chun Hyang University hospital. UBT was performed using 38 mg ¹³C urea capsule and compared with the gold standard methods (rapid urease test and histology). Baseline and 20 min breath samples were collected. We used ∆¹³C 2.0‰ as the cut-off value suggested by the manufacturer. Results: Of the 147 subjects, 142 cases were available for analysis. The sensitivity and specificity of UBT using the 38 mg ¹³C urea capsule at 20 min were 98.7% and 100% respectively. Conclusions: A 20 min, 38 mg capsule based ¹³C urea breath test protocol is more efficient, cost effective, and convenient than conventional protocol. (Korean J Gastrointest Endosc 2005;30:126⁣132)

• Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, Urea breath test, ¹³C urea, Capsule