ABSTRACT
There are few studies to evaluate diagnostic accuracy of urea breath test [UBT] in patients with chronic renal failure [CRF]. In this study, accuracy of urea breath test to detect Helicobacter pylori [H. pylori] infection among patients with chronic renal failure candidate for renal transplantation was studied. In this descriptive-analytic study, 40 patients with CRF were studied. Upper GI endoscopy and UBT were requested for all patients. Clinical data and histologic findings and UBT results were analyzed by chi-square using SPSS ver.12 software. P< 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Forty patients with mean age of 33.56 +/- 11.22, including 20 male and 20 female, were studied. Both sensitivity and specificity of UBT were 80 percent, but with cut-off point of 5, its specificity increased to 100 percent. Positive and negative predictive values of UBT were 92.30 percent and 57.14 percent, respectively, but with cut-off point of 5, they increased to 100 percent and 71.42 percent, respectively. In according to relatively low sensitivity of UBT in CRF patients and higher risk of peptic ulcer and its bleeding, it is suggested that histologic examination must be done for all patients with negative UBT. Furthermore, diagnostic accuracy for H. pylori detection could be improved by assessing the UBT with a cut-off value of 5