Accuracy of rapid urease test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection before and after eradication therapy / 中华消化内镜杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the accuracy of RUT for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection before and after eradication therapy using bacterial culture and histological examination as gold standard. Methods A total of 250 patients undergoing gastroendoscopy, including 127 and 123 patients with or without previous H. pylori eradication therapy respectively were randomly selected. Each of the biopsy specimens was taken from the antrum and body of stomach for RUT, culture, and histological examination. The data of positive culture and/or positive histology were defined as H. pylori infection. It was judged H. pylori negative or eradication of the bacteria only when the results of culture and histological examination were both negative. Results In cases before eradication therapy, RUT correctly diagnosed in 84 of 86 H. Pylori-positive cases, and 34 of 37 H. Pylori-negative cases. The overall accuracy was 95.9%. The sensitivity and specificity of RUT before eradication were 97. 7% and 91. 9% respectively. In cases after eradication therapy, RUT gave correct diagnoses in 18 of 28 H. pylori - positive cases and in 98 of 99 H. pylori-negative cases with sensitivity 64. 3% and specificity 99. 0% . However, when RUT was used more than 6 months after the end of eradication therapy, both the sensitivity and specificity increased to 100%. Conclusions RUT is highly accurate for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection in untreated and treated patients who were examined more than 6 months after the completion of therapy.