The Diagnostic Validity of the 13 C Urea Breath Test in the Gastrectomized Patients Single Tertiary Center Retrospective Cohort Study
Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic validity of the C urea breath test (C UBT) in the remnant stomach after partial gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods: The C UBT results after Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy was compared with the results of endoscopic biopsy based methods in the patients who have received partial gastrectomy for the gastric cancer. Results: Among the gastrectomized patients who showed the positive C UBT results 2.5%0, n 47) and negative C UBT results 2.5%0, n 114) after H. pylori eradication, 26 patients (16.1% and 4 patients (2.5% were found to show false positive and false negative results based on biopsy based methods, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, false positive rate, and false negative rate for the cut off value of 2.5%0 were 84.0% 80.9% 19.1% and 16.0% respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 44.7% and 96.5% respectively. In the multivariate analysis, two or more H. pylori eradication therapies (odds ratio 3.248, 95% confidence interval= 1.088 9.695, P 0.035) was associated with a false positive result of the C UBT. Conclusions: After partial gastrectomy, a discordant result was shown in the positive C UBT results compared to the endoscopic biopsy methods for confirming the H. pylori status after eradication. Additional endoscopic biopsy based H. pylori tests would be helpful to avoid unnecessary treatment for H. pylori eradication in these cases. (J Cancer Prev 2014;19:309 317)