Helicobacter Forums

Helico_expert wrote: Mon Dec 14, 2020 8:16 pm with famotidine or any H2 blockers, you only need to fast for 6 hrs before breath test

Here is a guide of how long you need to stop taking the acid suppressants and antibiotics.

https://helico.com/PYtest_guide_2013.pdf

Thank You. So, if UBT comes negative too, can we assume that I'm free of h.pylori?

And they said that test shows Units, is this better than the other one qualitative?

in simple term and normal situation, a negative breath test would mean free of H. pylori.

Then again, an experienced doctor would want to find out how negative is the negative test.
If the negative cut off was 50 dpm and your breath test result was 49, it will be a suspicious negative. especially if the test doesnt come with a "indeterminant zone".

In Australia, the breath test with reading lower than 50 dpm is negative and over 200 dpm is positive. A reading in between 50 and 200 is classified as indeterminant zone and would ask the patient to repeat the test a few weeks later.

many diagnostic kit companies try to make it simple for the technician to operate or the doctor to understand, they only provide positive or negative result without the readings. Some, remove the indeterminant zone so it is easier to understand.

Helico_expert wrote: Mon Dec 14, 2020 8:33 pm in simple term and normal situation, a negative breath test would mean free of H. pylori.

Then again, an experienced doctor would want to find out how negative is the negative test.
If the negative cut off was 50 dpm and your breath test result was 49, it will be a suspicious negative. especially if the test doesnt come with a "indeterminant zone".

In Australia, the breath test with reading lower than 50 dpm is negative and over 200 dpm is positive. A reading in between 50 and 200 is classified as indeterminant zone and would ask the patient to repeat the test a few weeks later.

many diagnostic kit company tried to make it simple for the technician to operate or the doctor to understand, they only provide positive or negative result without the readings. Some, remove the indeterminant zone so it is easier to understand.

And they said that test shows Units, is this better than the other one qualitative?

Edit: ok, Thank You again.

And which one is more accurate, C13 or C14?

This lab use C14.

I have one more question. This thing was always unclear to me.

Hypothetically, is it possible that, if the person was previously negative, and today get infected, do the UBT / stool test in 2 days and the test show positive. Is it possible that test could be positive only 24 hours after person get infected, or does it take longer period for H.pylori detection in stool and breath test?

because breath test react directly on the pathogen. and you will need sufficient load of bacteria to react to the urea pill generate enough reading for the test.

since H. pylori is a slow growing organism and the initial infection is probably a very small number of bacteria. 24 hours is probably not enough to grow into mass. It'll probably take a week for the bacteria to colonise everywhere.

Helico_expert wrote: Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:03 am because breath test react directly on the pathogen. and you will need sufficient load of bacteria to react to the urea pill generate enough reading for the test.

since H. pylori is a slow growing organism and the initial infection is probably a very small number of bacteria. 24 hours is probably not enough to grow into mass. It'll probably take a week for the bacteria to colonise everywhere.

Thank You,

I've decided to wait one more week to retest via UBT. Want to get more reliable breath test (2 weeks off famotidine) and see if I could get reinfected from my partner, although she maintains good oral hygiene, but sometimes has minor burping reflux.

Helico_expert:

I spoke to my GP today and he recommended another endoscopy, but they do not provide biopsy and histology or rapid urease test. He said that a rapid stool test would be reliable, and I have got it recently - result negative, but some sources do not recommend rapid immunochromatography stool test because of lower sensitivity compared to enzyme immunoassay stool test. What are the guidelines in Australia regarding the stool test? What is your opinion on this? I desperately want to know what condition my stomach is in, and I know this is only possible through endoscopy, but on the other hand, they are not able to provide biopsy. Is it possible to detect inactive chronic gastritis on endoscopy without a biopsy? I am in a dilemma, whether to do only a UBT or endoscopy and another rapid stool test besides to make sure I am free of H.pylori.

If you had recently done an endoscopy (within 12 months), and there is nothing wrong, there is not need another one until you have very bad symptoms.

If you had recently done an endoscopy (within 12 months, and there is something wrong, eg. ulcers or metaplasia, then you can organise a follow up 12 months later (after the previous endoscopy), to examine the recovery or progress of the metaplasia.

If you were going to get an endoscopy, you should get biopsy for CLOtest and perhaps also measure the pH of the stomach juice. CLOtest is a rapid urease test for quick diagnosis of H. pylori. If the stomach juice is acidic, then the CLOtest must be accurate.

Helico_expert wrote: Wed Dec 16, 2020 10:19 am If you had recently done an endoscopy (within 12 months), and there is nothing wrong, there is not need another one until you have very bad symptoms.

If you had recently done an endoscopy (within 12 months, and there is something wrong, eg. ulcers or metaplasia, then you can organise a follow up 12 months later (after the previous endoscopy), to examine the recovery or progress of the metaplasia.

If you were going to get an endoscopy, you should get biopsy for CLOtest and perhaps also measure the pH of the stomach juice. CLOtest is a rapid urease test for quick diagnosis of H. pylori. If the stomach juice is acidic, then the CLOtest must be accurate.

I've done endoscopy recently, 5 months ago. Report - chronic gastritis and bulbitis due to H.pylori, but they did not provide biopsy, histology or CLO test. My GP based diagnose on the visual findings. Is it possible that ulcers or atrophic gastritis/metaplasia develop from chronic gastritis in such a short period time (5 months since last endoscopy) ?

It usually take a long time to develop. But metaplasia is hard to visualise. You can only diagnose metaplasia by histology.