RESUMO
BACKGROUND: H. pylori infection and peptic ulcerations and their complications such as bleeding are causally related, but the available methods used in bleeding to confirm active H. pylori lack accuracy. AIM To evaluate the usefulness of 13C-urea breath test (UBT) in diagnosing of H. pylori infection in bleeding patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-one patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding and 258 matched controls without bleeding were enrolled to the study. UBT was performed using low-dose capsulated 13C-urea and IgG antibodies to H. pylori were determined by ELISA. RESULTS: UBT performed in bleeding patients was positive in 77.7%. In this group anti Hp IgG was positive in 79% of cases and among them gastroscopy showed 40.7% of bleeding duodenal ulcer, 38% bleeding gastric ulcer, and 86% hemorrhagic gastritis. UBT was positive in 90.9%, 77.4%, and in 52.97% cases, respectively, and it was not statistically different from that in non-bleeding controls, duodenal and gastric ulcers and gastritis. All patients with blood or "coffee grounds" in the stomach had both UBT and serology positive. CONCLUSION: The UBT is simple and non-invasive method, which can be successively applied also in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding to detect active H. pylori infection prior to emergency endoscopy.