ABSTRACT
AIM OF STUDY: To determine whether a homemade rapid urease test (RUT) (1 mL of 10% urea broth in distilled water plus one drop of 1% phenol red as indicator, cost/test USD0.19) was reliable when compared to histology in the diagnosis of HP infection. METHOD: Prospective consecutive sampling of patients who underwent outpatient oesophagogastroduodenoscopy and antral biopsies from October 1996 to January 1997. RUT and histology examinations were done on all specimens. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of the RUT were calculated accordingly. RESULTS: Amongst our 140 patients, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy of RUT were 94%, 99%, 99%, 95% and 96% respectively. Seventy-seven percent of the positive RUTs can be detected within 1 hour. CONCLUSION: Our homemade RUT is an inexpensive test with good sensitivity and specificity for HP infection.
