A 52-year old woman presented with a three-week history of epigastric aching pain, worse in the
early morning before breakfast and somewhat relieved by food and antacids. Physical examination was
normal. An air contrast upper GI showed a small duodenal ulcer crater and mild reflux with provocative
maneuvers. Her symptoms responded well to omperazole 40 mg. per day. H. pylori antibody serology was
negative.
You are concerned about a possible false negative H. pylori serology because this would cause you to
miss the opportunity of treating the patient for H. pylori and preventing future ulcers. Therefore, you
decide to check on the sensitivity of the H. pylori assay used by the hospital
laboratory. A laboratory technician informs you that the test they use is an ELISA, IGg test performed
using a commercial kit.
Read the case above and formulate an appropriate specific clinical
question. Get help on developing a Well-Built Clinical
Question.
Type your question here:
A well-built clinical question:
Describes the key features of the patient
(and their disease if indicated) that could be relevant to health risks or diagnosis:
Age range
Gender
Disease characteristics
Risk factors
You will use these features to compare your patient to study populations
to determine if the research results can
be generalized to your patient.
Describes performance characteristics of diagnostic tests: