An H. pylori infection can be diagnosed with an endoscopic biopsy, with noninvasive antibody testing, with urea breath testing, or with a stool sample. Antibody testing is the cheapest and most convenient method to diagnose H. pylori infection. It cannot, however, be used to confirm a cure of the infection after antibiotic therapy.
Endoscopic biopsy is the standard method to confirm a cure.
This procedure allows the physician to view the intestines and obtain a tissue sample. Stool antigen tests and urea breath testing are currently being validated to confirm cures, and these tests appear to be very accurate. Confirmation of a cure is especially important in people who have a bleeding ulcer. H. pylori infection has been identified as a risk factor for cancer by the World Health Organization. Although most people with gastric cancer are infected with H. pylori, only a small minority of infected persons will ever develop a gastric malignancy.