Said ZNA, El-Nasser AM. Evaluation of urea breath test as a diagnostic tool for Helicobacter pylori infection in adult dyspeptic patients. World J Gastroenterol 2024; 30(17): 2302-2307 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i17.2302]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zeinab Nabil Ahmed Said, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls Al-Azhar University, Elshenawy St, Nasr City 11754, Cairo, Egypt. znabil58@yahoo.com
Research Domain of This Article
Microbiology
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. May 7, 2024; 30(17): 2302-2307 Published online May 7, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i17.2302
Evaluation of urea breath test as a diagnostic tool for Helicobacter pylori infection in adult dyspeptic patients
Zeinab Nabil Ahmed Said, Asmaa Mohamed El-Nasser
Zeinab Nabil Ahmed Said, Asmaa Mohamed El-Nasser, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls Al-Azhar University, Nasr City 11754, Cairo, Egypt
Author contributions: Both authors contributed equally to this work; Said ZNA and El-Nasser AM sharing the responsibilities and efforts in a collaborative manner; All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zeinab Nabil Ahmed Said, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls Al-Azhar University, Elshenawy St, Nasr City 11754, Cairo, Egypt. znabil58@yahoo.com
Received: February 18, 2024 Revised: March 9, 2024 Accepted: April 15, 2024 Published online: May 7, 2024
Abstract
In this editorial, we discuss the article in the World Journal of Gastroenterology. The article conducts a meta-analysis of the diagnostic accuracy of the urea breath test (UBT), a non-invasive method for detecting Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in humans. It is based on radionuclide-labeled urea. Various methods, both invasive and non-invasive, are available for diagnosing H. pylori infection, including endoscopy with biopsy, serology for immunoglobulin titers, stool antigen analysis, and UBT. Several guidelines recommend UBTs as the primary choice for diagnosing H. pylori infection and for reexamining after eradication therapy. It is used to be the first choice non-invasive test due to their high accuracy, specificity, rapid results, and simplicity. Moreover, its performance remains unaffected by the distribution of H. pylori in the stomach, allowing a high flow of patients to be tested. Despite its widespread use, the performance characteristics of UBT have been inconsistently described and remain incompletely defined. There are two UBTs available with Food and Drug Administration approval: The 13C and 14C tests. Both tests are affordable and can provide real-time results. Physicians may prefer the 13C test because it is non-radioactive, compared to 14C which uses a radioactive isotope, especially in young children and pregnant women. Although there was heterogeneity among the studies regarding the diagnostic accuracy of both UBTs, 13C-UBT consistently outperforms the 14C-UBT. This makes the 13C-UBT the preferred diagnostic approach. Furthermore, the provided findings of the meta-analysis emphasize the significance of precise considerations when choosing urea dosage, assessment timing, and measurement techniques for both the 13C-UBT and 14C-UBT, to enhance diagnostic precision.
Core Tip: This editorial comments on the article published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, where it demonstrates that 13C-UBT is an accurate test procedure to detect Helicobacter pylori infection. It is a safe and simple test for the patient, providing clear positive or negative test results for the clinician in the majority of cases, making it the preferred non-invasive test in clinical settings. Furthermore, the provided article highlights the importance of accurate and careful choosing of urea dosage, timing of assessment, as well as techniques of measurement for 13C-UBT and 14C-UBT, thereby improving diagnostic accuracy.
