Ammonia breath testing
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A comparison of urea breath testing (UBT) with ammonia breath testing (ABT) in the clinical diagnosis of Helicobacter Pylori infection.
IRAS ID
145497
Contact name
Frank Kvasnik
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 4 days
Research summary
Helicobacter Pylori (HP) is bacteria living in stomach. It causes peptic ulcers, chronic inflammation of the stomach lining, and stomach cancer. Its detection is an essential part of current clinical practices that are concerned with digestive system and its disorders.
Many methods exist for the detection of HP infection, but the standard, and most commonly used, is C13 (a rare, but natural isotope of carbon) urea (organic compound important for life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of living organisms) breath test. HP has urease (biological compound that speeds up chemical reactions) which will split urea into carbon dioxide and ammonia gases. Because there is no urease in uninfected humans, the detection of urease activity is an indication of HP infection. If a person is given a small amount of urea by mouth, and urea is labelled C13, the carbon dioxide that is produced by urease is also labelled. It can now be distinguished from the “normal” carbon dioxide and hence leads to identification of HP infected individuals. This is the basis of the Urea Breath Test (UBT), currently used around the world. Expensive (and slow) analysers, such as infrared spectrometers, are required (together with specially produced labelled urea) for the detection of labelled carbon dioxide.
An innovative approach is to detect the ammonia (rather than the labelled carbon dioxide) in the breath. This is the new ammonia breath test (ABT). New, specific, “sniffing” instruments, such as those used in alcohol meters, permit quick and accurate measurement of gases in breath. A low-cost instrument has been developed by SensAm that can be used to detect ammonia in the breath. This initial study will enable the new ABT to be calibrated for a subsequent study, that will compare its performance to the standard urea breath test.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NW/0159
Date of REC Opinion
6 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion