{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,16]],"date-time":"2025-09-16T17:19:25Z","timestamp":1758043165767,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,12]],"date-time":"2025-09-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1757635200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005363","name":"Universidad de Buenos Aires","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["20020100100837, 20020130100645BA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20020100100837, 20020130100645BA"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005363","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100021778","name":"Agencia Nacional de Promoci\u00f3n de la Investigaci\u00f3n, el Desarrollo Tecnol\u00f3gico y la Innovaci\u00f3n","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PICT-2018-01854"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PICT-2018-01854"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100021778","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004493","name":"International Atomic Energy Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004493","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Gastroenterol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C-Urea Breath Test (<jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C-UBT) is a popular, non-invasive method used for the diagnosis of <jats:italic>Helicobacter pylori<\/jats:italic> infection. This work evaluates its performance for the initial diagnosis and post-treatment follow-up in dyspeptic adults from Buenos Aires, Argentina. We retrospectively analyzed data from two earlier studies, which evaluated <jats:italic>H. pylori<\/jats:italic> infection using <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C-UBT and histology of gastric biopsies. Additionally, we assessed the <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C-UBT performance against the concordant results of both histology and PCR in a subsample with available data. The <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C-UBT was performed using a commercial kit, with isotope-ratio-mass-spectrometry (IRMS) as the measurement technique. Results from 154 volunteers were evaluated to assess the performance of <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C-UBT for the initial diagnosis of <jats:italic>H. pylori<\/jats:italic> infection, with histological evaluation as the reference method. For a cut-off value set at 3.5\u2030, sensitivity was 93.0%, specificity was 95.6%, accuracy was 94.2%, positive predictive value (PPV) was 96.4% and negative predictive value (NPV) was 91.5%. The subsample analysis of <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C-UBT vs. histology and PCR showed improved results: sensitivity 98.8%, specificity 98.3%, accuracy 98.6%, PPV 98.8% and NPV 98.3%. In contrast, <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C-UBT performance for confirming <jats:italic>H. pylori<\/jats:italic> eradication was studied in 46 patients, showing a sensitivity of 94.4%, specificity 100.0%, accuracy 97.8%, PPV 100.0% and NPV 96.6%. The analysis of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy as a function of the cut-off revealed that the optimal value could be lowered to 3.0\u2030 in our laboratory. These results demonstrate that the <jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C-UBT is a non-invasive, highly accurate method for both the initial and post-treatment diagnosis of <jats:italic>H. pylori<\/jats:italic> infection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fgstr.2025.1634183","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,12]],"date-time":"2025-09-12T04:16:09Z","timestamp":1757650569000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Improving 13C-urea breath test performance metrics for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"4","author":[{"given":"Paula","family":"Mantero","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Germ\u00e1n Rodolfo","family":"Flekenstein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mariana 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