Generality
The search for antigens of the "Helicobacter pylori in faeces represents a recently introduced non-invasive test with excellent levels of sensitivity and specificity, useful in the diagnosis of gastric infections from Helicobacter pylori, often responsible for dyspepsia, active gastritis, peptic ulcers and involved in the increased risk of stomach cancer.
Utility
Diagnosis of infection with Helicobacter pylori it can be placed through invasive methods, which include histological examination, culture or rapid urease test on gastric mucosa samples taken during operative gastroscopy procedures.
As an alternative to these tests, non-invasive techniques have been developed, such as the breath test, the search for antibodies toHelicobacter pylori in the serum, and the search for specific antigens (HpSA) in the faeces.
All these investigations assume great importance even at the end of a therapy aimed at the eradication of the bacteria, to evaluate its effectiveness and confirm or not the patient's recovery.
Gastric biopsy
The biopsy of the gastric mucosa is an invasive technique, and as such involves a certain risk of operative complications and high management costs; moreover it is burdened by the risk of false positives due to the known "spot" colonization of the "Helicobacter pylori, with the risk of removing a portion of non-colonized mucosa and consequent false negatives.
Breath test and blood antigens
The breath test, while being particularly sensitive and specific in both circumstances, is burdened by a non-negligible cost in terms of equipment and execution times, which affect both the patient and the health facilities (the urea breath test lasts about 40 minutes) On the other hand, serological tests are of little use in diagnosing eradication, since the antibody titer slowly fades after healing.
Benefits
The search for antigens of the "Helicobacter pylori in the faeces it is particularly useful both for diagnosis and for monitoring therapy, it is cheaper than the breath test and requires a minimum commitment on the part of the patient. In fact, the search for fecal antigens of the "Helicobacter pylori it does not require any dietary preparation prior to the test, but it is very important that the stool is collected in a sterile container according to medical indications. Furthermore, the search for fecal antigens is particularly useful for uncooperative patients, such as children and the elderly suffering from respiratory diseases, for whom the breath test is contraindicated.
The presence of the "fecal antigen of the"Helicobacter pylori it is a sign of infection, so the test will simply give positive or negative results. The sensitivity and specificity of the test are around 95%.
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