Clinical practice - breath tests
Open Access
- 1 January 1998
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in British Medical Bulletin
- Vol. 54 (1) , 187-193
- https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bmb.a011669
Abstract
The underlying principle of the two non-invasive radio-labelled urea breath tests is similar. Both are positive when the patient's stomach is colonised by Helicobacter pylori because the organism's urease enzyme splits the orally administered urea isotope to labelled CO 2 which is then detected in the expired breath. The tests thus reflect active infection and are idelally suited to monitoring the success or failure of different eradication therapies as well as studying rates of acquisition and re-infection/late recrudescence post treatment. [ 13 C]-urea should always be used in children since it is the stable non-radioactive isotope but the [ 14 C]-urea breath test is suitable for most adults, since the dose of radioactivity is minimal.Keywords
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