Influencing factors of 13C-urea breath test in the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in children / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

The 13C-urea breath test is the most widely applied non-invasive test to diagnose Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection in children.The fasting time, dose and formulation of labeled urea, type of test meal, time of breath collection, device to detect breath samples, cut-off value of exhaled 13CO 2/ 12CO 2 breath delta value and the interpretation of results have been modified to improve the accuracy.The 13C-urea breath test possesses a good perfor-mance in diagnosing Hp infection and evaluating the eradication of infection after treatment in children.However, the high false-positive results in young children are caused by oral flora, endogenous CO 2 and fixed dose of labeled urea.In addition, taking proton pump inhibitors, antibiotics and bismuth before test, low bacterial density and peptic ulcer bleeding will lead to false negative results.This study aims to review the influencing factors of 13C-urea breath test in the diagnosis of Hp infection in children.