The 13C-urea breath test provides accurate, noninvasive diagnosis of active 
Helicobacter pylori infection and can document posttherapy cure. This study 
evaluated point-of-care testing with onsite sample analysis with the use of a 
desktop infrared spectrophotometer. Ambulatory patients (N=320) underwent 
13C-urea breath testing, and breath samples were analyzed immediately by clinic 
staff with no prior breath testing experience. Duplicate samples were sent to a 
reference laboratory, and the results of both methods were compared. 
Point-of-care testing was simple, with an overall agreement of 99.1%. Accurate 
near-patient 13C-urea breath testing is now practical in the primary care 
setting even when done by inexperienced personnel.