Radiographic Findings and Serological Tests for Diagnosis of Helicobacter Pylori Infection in Dyspeptic Patients

Abstract Background & aim: With different methods for diagnosing H. pylori infections the aim of this study was to compare barium swallows radiographic findings and serological tests for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in dyspeptic patients. Methods: In this analytic cross-sectional study, 60 patients with documented gastric or duodenal ulcer, referring to Yasuj Shahid Mofateh Clinic No.2 were randomly selected. For all patients, Serologic testing determining the Helicobacter pylori infection was performed using specific IgG antibody titer. Afterward, barium swallow radiograph was performed on all patients. The results of the diagnostic procedure was evaluated by the indices of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, the percentage of false positives, the percentage of false negative and true accuracy with 95% confidence interval were analyzed. Results: From a total of 60 serological testing, 37 patients (61.6 %) had positive and 23 (39.4 percent) had negative results. Barium swallows radiography of 7 out of 60 patients (11.7 percent) was positive. Among patients with positive serology, 5 patients had positive and 2 patients had negative results. Barium swallows sensitivity and specificity of serological tests was estimated 13.5 and 91 percent respectively. Conclusion: According to the high specificity percent, barium swallow radiography method can be considered as a confirmatory method in the diagnosis of H. pylori infection. Key words: Helicobacter pylori, serology, barium swallow, specificity, sensitivit