Urea breath test

초록

The urea breath test (UBT) is a noninvasive, simple, and safe test that provides excellent accuracy both for the initial diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection (high sensitivity: 90-100% and specifcity: 90-100%). This test is based on the organism's urease activity, which liberates carbon dioxide (CO<inf>2</inf>) from urea and produces ammonia to buffer its acidic environment. Ingestion of labeled urea results in the production of labeled CO<inf>2</inf>, which then can be detected in the breath. Urea can be labeled with two different isotopes, 14C (the radioactive isotope) or 13C (the nonradioactive stable isotope). The methodology of the UBT has been changed including the dose of labeled urea used, the type of test meal, the time of breath collection, the cutoff values, and the equipment adapted to measure isotope enrichment. This test is also used to ascertain the eradication, and it is recommended for the "test-and-treat" strategy. Even though there is no defnitive standardization of this test and the quantitative results may be infuenced by sex, age, body mass index; especially obesity, smoking, gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia, and even socioeconomic status, UBT is regarded as agold standard noninvasive method for H. pylori diagnosis. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023. All rights reserved.

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