Comparison of Rapid Office-Based Serology with Formal Laboratory-Based ELISA Testing for Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori Gastritis

Accurate and cost-effective diagnosis ofHelicobacter pylori gastritis has taken on majorimportance. Several serologic tests for the diagnosis ofH. pylori infection are commercially available. Wecompared the performance of the FlexSure HP rapid IgGantibody test with the conventional HM-CAP ELISA toevaluate whether qualitative office-based serology isreliable enough to replace formal laboratory-based testing. We assessed H. pylori status byconcordance in 100 consecutive patients with antralbiopsy, rapid urease, and 1 Ci[¹⁴C]ureabreath tests. Both antibody tests had good sensitivityand specificity (>86%). Concordance between the two antibodytests occurred in 87/93 patients (94%). Based on ourdata, the office-based FlexSure HP performed equallywell as the laboratory-based formal ELISA and may be a better choice for initial serologicdiagnosis in untreated patients.