EVALUATION OF PYLORISET DRY, A NEW RAPID AGGLUTINATION-TEST FOR HELICOBACTER-PYLORI ANTIBODY DETECTION

We evaluated the performance of a new latex agglutination test, Pylori set Dry (Orion Diagnostica, Espoo, Finland), in the simultaneous detec tion of immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgA, and IgM antibodies to Helicobacte r py[ori and compared it with that of the Pyloristat test (BioWhittake r, Fontenay-sous-Bois, France), an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay d etecting IgG to H, pylori, for 96 untreated dyspeptic patients who had undergone gastroduodenal endoscopy. Infection was diagnosed in 56 cas es by positive culture and/or positive Giemsa stain and rapid urease t est (antral biopsies) and was associated with chronic gastritis in 52 patients. Forty noninfected patients did not have chronic gastritis. T he sensitivity of Pyloriset Dry was 91.1%. The sensitivity of Pylorist at was 91.1 or 82.1%, depending on whether equivocal results were cons idered positive or negative, respectively. Both tests had a specificit y of 87.5%. Their performances were not statistically different. Thus, Pyloriset Dry is an alternative to serological tests for adults, part icularly when a small number of serum samples has to be tested.