Helicobacter pylori Stool Antigen test: a reliable non-invasive test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in children.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the Helicobacter pylori Stool Antigen (HpSA) test for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection in children. DESIGN AND
SETTING: Prospective cohort study in an academic medical centre. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 106 consecutive children who underwent gastroscopy were included. Biopsy specimens were sampled from the gastric antrum and corpus for the assessment of H. pylori infection by culture and histology. A patient was defined to be H. pylori positive if the results of culture and/or histology proved to be H. pylori positive; a patient was defined to be negative if both test results were negative. All children provided a stool sample within 2 days of gastroscopy. H. pylori antigens in faeces were assessed by an enzyme immunoassay (Premier HpSA, Meridian Diagnostics, Inc., Cincinnati, OH, USA).
RESULTS: The mean age of included patients was 8.5 years (range 1-18.5). Thirty patients were H. pylori positive and 76 patients were H. pylori negative. Using the recommended cut-off values of 0.140 optical density (OD) and 0.159 OD, sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 92% were found. The positive and negative predicting values were 83% (30/36) and 100% (70/70), respectively.
CONCLUSION: The HpSA test is an accurate test for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection in children, and might therefore be a good alternative for diagnostic tests such as the 13C-urea breath test (UBT).