Tuesday, Jan. 7th Office Closures & Changes
The Laurel Endoscopy Center 7350 Van Dusen Rd, Suite 230, Laurel, MD 20707 will be closed. Appointments will be rescheduled.
All appointments at Laurel Doctors' Office 7350 Van Dusen Road, Suite 410, Laurel, MD 20707 will be converted to telehealth
All appointments at Columbia Doctors' Office 5500 Knoll North Drive, Suite 460, Columbia, MD 21045 will be converted to telehealth
All appointments at Rockville Doctors' Office Shady Grove Rd. 15001 Shady Grove Road, Suite 300, Rockville, MD 20850 will be converted to telehealth
All appointments at Germantown Doctors' Office 20528 Boland Farm Road, Suite 201, Germantown, MD 20876 will be converted to telehealth
All appointments at Olney Doctors' Office 3415 Olandwood Court, Suite 101, Olney, MD 20832 will be converted to telehealth
All appointments at Silver Spring Doctors' Office 10801 Lockwood Drive, Suite 200, Silver Spring, MD 20901 will be converted to telehealth
Chevy Chase Doctors' Office 5550 Friendship Boulevard, Suite T-90, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 will open at 9:30 a.m.
Washington, D.C. Doctors' Office 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 3010, Washington, D.C. 20006 will open at 9:30 a.m.
North Bethesda Doctors' Office 6100 Executive Boulevard, Suite 301, North Bethesda, MD 20852 will open at 9:30 a.m.
National Harbor Doctors’ Office 125 Potomac Passage, Suite 250, National Harbor, MD 20745 will open at 9:30 a.m.
Find a provider that meets your needs
At Capital Digestive Care, our providers offer a comprehensive range of digestive health services.
Urea Breath Test for H. Pylori
What to expect with diagnostic tests
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Diagnostic test overview
The urea breath test is one method used to diagnose the presence of the bacterium, helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in the stomach. H. pylori can cause peptic ulcers by damaging the mucous coating that protects the stomach and duodenum.
What you need to know
For the test, patients swallow a capsule containing urea made from an isotope of carbon. (Isotopes of carbon can occur in minuscule amounts in nature, and can be measured with special testing machines.) If H. pylori is present in the stomach, the urea is broken up and turned into carbon dioxide.
The carbon dioxide is absorbed across the lining of the stomach and into the blood. It then travels in the blood to the lungs where it is excreted in the breath. Samples of exhaled breath are collected, and the isotopic carbon in the exhaled carbon dioxide is measured.
How to prepare?
The test requires a fasting period of at least one hour prior to your test. This means that you consume no food or drink, only water, prior to the test. Patients should inform their physicians, prior to their test, if they are taking any medications. Typically, patients are instructed as follows:
- Phenylketonuric patients should not take the test as the active ingredients is mixed with aspartame and contains phenylalanine.
- Do not take proton pump inhibitors (Prilosed, Prevacid, Nexium, Protonix, Aciphex) within two weeks prior to the test.
- Do not take antibiotics within weeks prior to the test.
- Do not take bismuth preparations (Pepto Bismol, etc.) within two weeks prior to the test.
- If you have received H. pylori treatment, you should not take this test for a minimum of four weeks following the end of your treatment. An earlier post-treatment assessment may give false negative results.
- Prior to testing, you may take H2 antagonists (Tagamet, Zantac, Pepcid, Axid) or Antacids (Tums, etc.).
