This study was aimed to assess the value of rapid urease test (CLO test) for thedetection of Helicobacter (H.) pylori in patiens with duodenal ulcer and compare its resultwith histological technique using H & E stain.

The CLO test and histological study were done using three pieces of antral biopsyspecimens in 46 patients with duodenal ulcer. The clinical histories such as smoking, bloodtype or the previous use of NSAIDs were obtained from the patients.

1) The CLO test was positive in 35 (76.1%) among 46 patients with duodenal ulcer, while H & E stain was positive in 91.3%.

2) When H & E stain positive case was diagnosed as H. pylori infection, the sensitivity of CLO test was 81.0%, the specificitry 75.0% and the predictability was 97.1%.

3) The grading of gastric inflammation showed that the higher the histologogical grade, the more likely CLO test would be positive.

4) There were no differences of recurring history of duodenal ulcer, smoking rate, NSAIDs history and blood type between 34 cases of both CLO and H & E positive cases and 3 cases ofboth negative cases except a mild increasing tendency of age, male predominance and scarringstage of duodenal ulcer in both negative cases.

The CLO test is a rapid and simple test, but it should require other complementary diagnostic tests to increase the sensitivity and specificity.

The role of Helicobacter pylori(HP) in benign and malignant pancreatico-biliary tract disease is concerned in recent papers. The urease gene of Hp were found in human bile, and bacteria morphologically resembling Hp were found in resected gallbladder mucosa from patients with gallbladder disease. It was hypothesized that there is an association between the presence of Hp in bile and pancreatico-biliary disease. The aims of this study are to examine if Hp exist in the bile juice and to investigate whether Hp plays a role in the pancreatico-biliary disease.

Thirty-eight patients (18 males and 20 females, mean age 71 ?27yr ; range 45-92yr) with gallstone and malignant pancreatico-biliary disease were enrolled in this study ; 23 cases were gallstone diseases, 10 cases were cholangiocarcinomas, and 5 cases were pancreatic cancers. Thirty-eight controls were age- and sex-matched and enrolled from subject attending routine medical check-up. The presence of Hp in stomach was confirmed by ?⁴C-breath test. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was used to detect the Hp in bile.

The Hp-positive rate in stomach was much higher in control (26/38,68.4%) than the patients with pancreatico-biliary disease(l1/38, 28.9%) (p<0.01). The Hp-positive rate in bile of pancreatico-biliary disease was 18.4% but, there is no relation between of the presence of Hp in the stomach and in the bile (p=0.33). Also there was no significant difference of the presence of Hp in bile (p>0.05) and stomach (p=0.28) between benign and malignant disease.

The Hp-positive rate in bile was similar in benign and malignant pancreatico-biliary disease. But Hp may not be important risk factor in pancreatico-biliary disease in Hp-prevatent country like south Korea.

Although Helicobacter pylori exists worldwide, no large population studies has been conducted on the epidemiology of the infection in South Korea. The purpose of this study is to examine the seroprevalence and determinants of H. pylori infection in an urban community in Korea.

From 22,803 residents, 1000 were randomly recruited from the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th clusters of Mokdong apartment complex by multi-stage sampling. In 742 subjects(74.2% of the initial sample) H. pylori specific IgG antibodies were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A questionnaire asking about monthly income, number of family members, education, and other social background was distributed to all subjects. In addition, each subject was measured for height and weight.

The overall seroprevalence of H. pylori infection was 48.0%. H. pylori prevalence significantly increased with age from 41.9% to 54.9%. The prevalence of infection seemed to increase with males, more family members and smoking. However, the occupation, body mass index, education, generation, alcohol consumption and monthly income of the patient were not significantly related to H. pylori seroprevalence.

This study is a large cross-sectional, randomly sampled epidemiologic study of H. pylori infection in an urban community in Korea. The seroprevalence of H. pylori infection was 48.0%. Age was discovered to be the primary risk factor with no other determinants such as the sex and sociodemography being associated to the infection of H. pylori.