PROSPECTIVE COMPARISON OF RAPID UREASE TESTS (PYLORITEK, CLO TEST) FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI INFECTION IN SYMPTOMATIC CHILDREN - A PEDIATRIC MULTICENTER STUDY

Objective: Rapid urease tests are reliable methods to diagnose Helicob acter pylori (HP) infection in the endoscopy suite, The PyloriTek test kit is a new rapid urease test that has the advantage of a 1-h final reading, The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of PyloriTe k and the test in the diagnosis of H, pylori infection in children, Me thods: Children from four different pediatric gastroenterology centers were recruited prospectively into the study, These children were >5 y r old and had an upper endoscopy procedure, Antral biopsies were exami ned for both rapid urease tests in the endoscopy suite, and others wer e sent for routine histological examination, Results: A total of 242 c hildren were recruited into the study over approximately 1 yr, The con cordance between PyloriTek and CLO test was 98% (238 of 242), Twenty-f ive children were positive for HP organisms by PyloriTek and CLO test, whereas four children were positive by PyloriTek but negative by CLO test, PyloriTek was comparable to CLO test for the diagnosis of HP org anisms and HP-associated gastritis, Moreover, in 48% of the positive r esults, PyloriTek gave significantly faster results than CLO test, Con clusions: We conclude that PyloriTek is an appropriate rapid urease te st to use in children and may have an advantage over the CLO test beca use of its shorter reading time, (C) 1998 by Am, Cell, of Gastroentero logy).