Dear Heather,

It sounds like this mom is going to have a breath test for H. pylori, a
bacteria now kown to be the cause of many cases of stomach ulcer.  In
this test, the mother will be given a  capsule or a pudding-like
substance to eat.  It contains urea which has been labeled with a very
small amount of radioactive carbon.  About 20 minutes later, the mom will
breath into a device (or bag, depending on how you want to describe it)
and the breath specimen will be tested for the presence of tagged carbon
dioxide which is produced by the H. pylori bacteria due to the breakdown
of the urea by urease produced by this bacteria (ammonia, which does
contain nitrogen, is also produced during this process).  This is a
rather new, non-invasive and rather specific test for the presence of
this bacteria in the stomach.  Usually, a patient is first tested for the
presence of antibodies to H. pylori.  However, a positive antibody test
will not tell you if the patient is presently infected and the breath
test will.  Previously, GI guys would take actual tissue samples from the
stomach and have them cultured for H. pylori, so this test is a great
improvement over that.

The microbiologist says that the amount of tagged carbon is very small
and the mother is not considered to be radioactive or dangerous to anyone
in any way after the test.  The manufacturer of the test should be able
to supply information about the type of carbon used, its strength and
half-life.  The microbiologist, of course, suggested that the mom might
want to wean for a brief time, "just to be on the safe side."  However,
he could not say for how long and admitted that it was very possible that
weaning would not be necessary at all.  Hope this helps.

Sharon Knorr, BSMT, LLLL, IBCLC
Lactation Consultant Services
Rochester, New York
mailto:[log in to unmask]

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