Salivary antibodies to Hellcobacter pylori: screening dyspeptic patients before endoscopy

Diagnostic tests on saliva have advantages compared with those on serum. In 119 consecutive dyspeptic patients referred for endoscopy we developed and validated an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect salivary immunoglobulins to Helicobacter pylori. Salivary IgG distinguished positive and neg...

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Published inThe Lancet (British edition) Vol. 344; no. 8921; pp. 511 - 512
Main Authors Patel, P., Mendall, M.A., Khulusi, S., Molineaux, N., Levy, J., Maxwell, J.D., Northfield, T.C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Elsevier Ltd 20.08.1994
Elsevier Limited
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Summary:Diagnostic tests on saliva have advantages compared with those on serum. In 119 consecutive dyspeptic patients referred for endoscopy we developed and validated an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect salivary immunoglobulins to Helicobacter pylori. Salivary IgG distinguished positive and negative cases (p<0·0001), but salivary IgA did not. The optimum performance of salivary IgG (85%) was similar to that of serum IgG (90%) and better than that of salivary IgA. Using our assay and a history of regular use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories in screening patients under 45 years, we detected all peptic ulcers while saving 39% of endoscopies.
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(94)91899-6