Interpretation of H2 breath tests may be affected by colonic pH

Implementation and interpretation of hydrogen breath tests.

Hydrogen breath tests are non-invasive and safe diagnostic tools used to investigate functional intestinal disorders. For the diagnosis of fructose or lactose malabsorption as well as for the detection of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth syndrome, hydrogen breath tests are even regarded as gold standard. However, standardization of the testing procedure and the interpretation of the test r...

Abnormal breath tests to lactose, fructose and sorbitol in irritable bowel syndrome may be explained by small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

BACKGROUND Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and sugar malabsorption (lactose, fructose, sorbitol) may play a role in irritable bowel syndrome. The lactulose breath test is a reliable and non-invasive test for the diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. The lactose, fructose and sorbitol hydrogen breath tests are widely used to detect specific sugar malabsorption. AIM To asses...

Clinical Policy Bulletin: Breath Tests of Airway Inflammation: Exhaled Nitric Oxide and Exhaled Breath Condensate pH

Diffuse gastrointestinal dysmotility by ultrasonography, manometry and breath tests in colonic inertia.

Patients with colonic inertia, the most severe form of chronic functional constipation, may present with a more diffuse panenteric motility disorder. We describe a case of a woman with severe longstanding colonic inertia associated with chronic functional dyspepsia and defective gastric, gallbladder and small intestinal motility, as confirmed by several diagnostic tests including two breath tes...

Small neurons may be preferentially affected in ganglionopathy.

In this issue of J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, the paper by Gorson and colleagues describes 23 patients with neuropathic pain that is distributed in a non-length dependent manner (see page 163). In these patients, neuropathy can be distinguished from conventional length dependent small fibre neuropathy because the sensory disturbance involves proximal regions of the limbs, face and trunk, eith...