gastrointestinal disorders
Helicobacter pylori Infection
Diagnosis of H. pylori Infection
The RUT, in which presence of bacterial urease in the biopsy sample causes a color change on a special medium, is the diagnostic method of choice on tissue samples. Histologic staining of biopsy samples should be done for patients with negative RUT results but suspicious clinical findings, recent antibiotic use, or treatment with proton pump inhibitors. RUT and histologic staining each have a sensitivity and specificity of > 90%. Immunohistochemistry is routinely used in some hospital systems and adds to the value of histology because it can be used to detect a very small number of organisms.