Evaluation of a Rapid, New Method for Detecting Serum Igg Antibodies to Helicobacter Pylori (General Clinical Chemistry‪)‬

Multiple invasive and noninvasive methods are available for the detection of Helicobacter pylori (1). Invasive methods necessitate endoscopy and require gastric tissue. They include tests for urease activity, histologic evaluation, and culture of the bacterium. They are all limited by the high cost of endoscopy and sampling errors due to nonuniform distribution of H. pylori in the stomach [2-4]. Noninvasive techniques to detect bacterial infection include urea breath tests (UBT) and anti-H. pylori antibody detection by serologic methods. [1] The presence of antibodies to H. pylori strongly correlates with histologic evidence of infection in untreated patients [5, 6]. Serologic detection of H. pylori antibodies with current methodologies is expensive and time consuming, and requires transport of the specimen to a reference laboratory. An office-based test to screen patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms for H. pylori would expedite diagnosis and treatment of the infection. Such a test should be inexpensive, easy to perform, accurate, and produce results rapidly, i.e., during the encounter with the patient.