Usefulness of measuring intragastric ammonia levels as a screening method for the diagnosis of helicobacter pylori infection

There are several reliable methods for detecting Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, but all of them have both advantages and disadvantages. In this study, we investigated intragastric ammonia levels (IALs) as a screening method for H. pylori infection. This test was performed on 126 patients referred for routine endoscopy, and results of IALs were compared with those from culture and histology. All patients whose IALs are over 5.0 mg/dl showed H. pylori positive, and its sensitivity of H. pylori detection was 87.6% and specificity was 100% when more than 5.0 mg/dl of IALs assumed H. pylori positive. H. pylori positive patients whose IALs were below 5.0 mg/dl showed high ratio of both aged patients and intestinal metaplasia in histology, while H. pylori negative patients had high ratio of younger patients and those histological findings showed no or mild intestinal metaplasia. The measuring of IALs is considered to be a simple, cheap, rapid, and non-radioactive test for the screening of H. pylori infection.