A NEW UREA BROTH-BASED TEST TO DETECT HELICOBACTER-PYLORI PRESENCE INUPPER GASTROINTESTINAL BIOPSIES

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a simple and inexpensive homemade urea test (U-test) to detect Helicobacter pylori in tipper digestive tract biopsies. We tested and compared the U-test with three other diagnostic methods: the Clo-test, and culture and pat hology in 110 patients randomly chosen at the endoscopy clinic. When u sing culture and/or pathology as the ''gold standard,'' H. pylori was found to exist in 54 patients. Pathology was positive in 50 cases (92. 5%), culture in 49 (90.7%), the U-test in 45 (83.3%), and the Clo-test in 43 (79.6%). With regard to culture pathology, the sensitivities of the U-test and the Clo-test were 83.3% and 79.5%, respectively. Speci ficity was 100% for both methods. The kappa coefficient calculation be tween the U-test and the Clo-test was 0.98. The results show that the U-test is a reliable, fast, and inexpensive method for detecting H. py lori in upper gastrointestinal biopsies.