Isolation of H. pylori from gastric tissues by microculture method: The ever first experience worldwide

Abstract

Background: The main purpose of clinical and laboratory diagnosis of H. pylori is to cure the patient by an effective treatment. The culture of this bacterium is both costly and requires specific atmospheric conditions and specific culture media. The aim of this cross-sectional case-control study is to isolate H.pylori for the first time in the world, by microculture method and to compare this method with classical culture, histopathology and PCR used for the laboratory diagnosis of H. pylori. Methods & Materials: This study was performed between October 2012- December 2012, with 26 patients whose histopathological examination of biopsy samples and /or culture revealed the presence of H.pylori and with 26 control whose H.pylori was not found.The biopsy samples were homogenized and 60 μl was tranfered to four capillary tubes. They were closed with silicone and were incubated 48 hours at 37 C°. Any atmospheric conditions like CO2 was not provided. The bacteria that grew in capillary tubes was confirmed as H.pylori with PCR. Results: From 25 of 26 biopsy, H.pylori was isolated with microculture and from 14 with classical culture. H.pylori was detected by histopathology in only 17 samples..The sensitivity of the micro culture method was found as 96% the specificity as 80% the positive predictive value(PPV) as 83%, the negative predictive value (NPV) as 95% and Kappa coefficient of concordance was found as 76%. Conclusion: In this study, for the first time in the world, H. pylori was isolated from gastric biopsies by micro-culture method and the culture was confirmed by PCR. Furthermore, this new method was compared with histopathology and classical culture and it appeared to be more sensitive. We are beliving that the micro-culture method will be useful for the isolation of H.pylori from symptomatic patients, as well as asymptomatic patients.