Evaluation of the one-minute ultra-rapid urease test for diagnosing Helicobacter pylori

To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the one-minute ultra-rapid urease t est for diagnosing Helicobacter pylori infection, two biopsies were taken f rom both the gastric corpus and antrum from 1000 patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. All the biopsies were subjected to the one-minu te ultra-rapid urease test before imprint smears were prepared from them. T hereafter, the biopsies were fixed in 10% formalin and histological section s were examined for the presence of H pylori by a pathologist who was not a ware of the clinical details or the results of the urease test. The prevale nce of H pylori in the gastric antrum and corpus was 86.7% and 53.3%, respe ctively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive val ue and the overall diagnostic accuracy of the ultra-rapid urease test to di agnose H pylori infection in the gastric antrum were 92%, 100%, 100%, 66%, and 93%, respectively. The corresponding figures for the gastric corpus wer e 83%, 100%, 100%, 85%, and 91%, respectively. It is concluded that the one -minute ultra-rapid urease test has a high sensitivity and specificity and may be used as a rapid and cheap method to diagnose H pylori infection.