Background: Dyspepsia is one of the most common ailments today and Helicobacter pylori infection is known as one of the common causes of dyspepsia in adults and children. Histopathologic diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori is a standard method and biopsy samples can be obtained by invasive endoscopy method. The current study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic value of stool antigen test of Helicobacter pylori as a non-invasive method.

Materials and Methods: In this study all dyspeptic patients referred to GI clinic of Kashan Shahid Beheshti Hospital from 2007 to 2008 were involved in this study. In upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, mucosal biopsy was taken from antrum and corpus simultaneous examination of the stool antigen sample for diagnosing of Helicobacter pylori was evaluated using ELISA method (positive titer>1/1). Data were collected and analyzed for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value.

Results: Among the 100 dyspeptic patients 50 were men and the remaining 50 women with a mean age of 43.3±17.13. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value in stool antigen test were %83.3, %79.4, 88.7% and 71.7%, respectively. There was a direct correlation between the severity of Helicobacter pylori infection and stool antigen titer in biopsy samples.

Conclusions: The stool antigen test as a noninvasive method of diagnosing Helicobacter pylori can be regarded as an affordable alternative to the invasive biopsy procedure.