At present, mass-spectrometry is the most accurate and efficient method for measuring carbon isotope ratio in 13C-urea breath test for H. pylori infection but its wide application is restricted by the high cost of equipment and operational complexity. IR spectrometry is one of the less expensive techniques recently proposedfor the purpose. To compare the effectiveness of the two methods, we undertook a study including 20 volunteers (6 men and 14 women) aged 18-60 years with parallel measurements by IR and mass-spectrometry. IR spectrometry was shown to be highly accurate (94-96%), sensitive (up to 100%), and specific (87.5%) which makes it a promising alternative to mass-spectrometry to be used in urea breath test for mass examination especially in outpatient facilities.
