Any role left for invasive tests? Histology in clinical practice
P Moayyedia, M F Dixona b
a Centre for Digestive
Diseases, General Infirmary at Leeds, UK, b Academic Unit of Pathology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Correspondence to: Professor Dixon.
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
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Introduction |
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Although some patients may consider even a venepuncture "invasive", in the context of tests for Helicobacter pylori infection this term is usually restricted to those which require gastric biopsy samples. These tests incorporate a range of techniques to show the presence of H pylori in biopsy material and comprise histology, culture, rapid urease tests and, of lesser importance, microscopic examination of smears from biopsy samples or brushings and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which by amplifying segments of nucleic acids specific for H pylori can detect very small numbers of bacteria. As only the first three are widely practised, we shall confine our consideration to them.
In comparing diagnostic tests it is conventional to examine their
sensitivity
the proportion of positives that are
correctly identified by the testand their
specificitythe proportion of negatives correctly
identified by the testbut there are other factors influencing the
general utility of
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