PMID: 8582184Jun 1, 1995Paper

Lactulose hydrogen breath test in small intestinal bacterial overgrowth

Zhonghua nei ke za zhi
J WangG Pan

Abstract

Lactulose hydrogen breath test (LHBT) was evaluated in 21 patients suspected of having small intestinal bacterial overgrowth syndrome and 10 healthy volunteers as control. After dietary preparation and a 12-hour fast, subjects received 15g of lactulose mixed with 40% barium sulfate. The purpose of the barium meal was to reveal the position of lactulose in the intestines. End-expiratory samples of breath were taken at 15 minutes intervals at least for 4 hours. Breath hydrogen was measured with gas chromatography. A positive LHBT was defined as increase of hydrogen concentration in the breath more than 10 x 10(-6) above the baseline value before barium reached the sixth group of small intestine. Cultures were considered positive for bacterial overgrowth when anaerobic counts > or = 10(6) CFU/ml of aspirate. The procedure was carried out under sterile condition. Compared with the bacteriologic culture, LHBT has a sensitivity of 71.4%, specificity of 88.2% and accuracy of 80.6%. These results show that the LHBT is a simple, non-invasive and relatively reliable method for diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

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