Comparison of the diagnostic accuracy between urea breath test and fecal test in patients with Helicobacter pylori infection after eradicant treatment

The diagnostic accuracy of the UBT and the stool test for H. pylori (HpSA) has been investigated in 350 infected patients after eradicating treatment. In 43 (12.3%) patients, discordant or indeterminate results on UBT or HpSA were obtained. Thirty-three out of 43 patients underwent upper g.i. endoscopy with gastric biopsies for histological, immunohistochemical and coltural analysis for H. pylori. In 32 of 33 patients, the UTB, but not the HpSA, correctly determined the H. pylori status while in one case the UBT was indetemninate (with a negative HpSA test). These findings show that the HpSA test has a lower diagnostic accuracy than the UBT in the post-treatment setting. No coccoid forms of H. pylori were observed in patients with a positive HpSA and a negative UBT.