A COMPARISON OF HELISAL TM RAPID BLOOD, E LISA, JATROX AND HISTOLOGY FOR HELICOBACTER-PYLORI DIAGNOSIS

Objectives: To assess the usefulness of HELISAL. in the diagnosis of H elicobacter pylori infection by comparing it with ELISA, JATROX and hi stopathologic findings. Experimental design: Randomized prospective st udy. Patients: Sixty-one patients, thirty-three males and twenty-eight females, 18-73 years old, submitted to esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Re sults: The sensitivity of HELISAL when compared to ELISA test was 60.8 %, the specificity 73.3%, the positive predictive value 87.5%, the neg ative predictive value 37.9%, and the kappa index 0.26. When compared to histopathologic test: sensitivity 60.9%, specificity 65%, positive predictive value 78.1%, negative predictive Value 44.7%, kappa 0.28. W hen compared to JATROX, sensitivity 57.7%, specificity 62.5%, positive predictive Value 81.2%, negative predictive value 34.4%, kappa 0.21. Conclusion: The sensitivity of HELISAL test is lower than that of othe r compared tests, and the negative predictive value is very low. The s pecificity and the positive predictive value are higher than the sensi tivity. The kappa index shows a very low concordance.