Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowths and Intestinal Methanogen Overgrowths Breath Testing in a Real-Life French Cohort.

Introduction: Breath testing has become a widely used tool to diagnose small intestinal bacterial overgrowths (SIBOs) and intestinal methanogen overgrowths (IMOs) in clinical settings. Owing to the heterogeneity in clinical manifestations and lack of standardization among centers performing breath testing, SIBO and IMO can be easily overlooked by the clinician. We studied the prevalence and symptoms of SIBO/IMO in French patients referred for breath testing after seeking medical advice.

Prospective screening of liver fibrosis in a primary care cohort using systematic calculation of fib-4 in routine results.

Background & Aim: Liver fibrosis screening in primary care population is a major public health issue. The FIB-4 index is a simple non-invasive fibrosis test combining age, transaminases, platelets count, developed for the diagnosis of advanced fibrosis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the interest of liver fibrosis screening using systematic calculation of FIB-4 in routine blood analysis.

Dried blood spot sampling for hepatitis B virus serology and molecular testing.

Background Aims: Dried blood spots (DBS) on filter paper have been successfully used to diagnose and monitor several infectious diseases. The aim was to investigate the performance of DBS in hepatitis B virus (HBV) diagnosis using commercial tests in comparison to standard methods.

Methods: Paired DBS and plasma samples were collected from 200 patients: 100 patients with HBsAg negative status and 100 patients with HBsAg positive status.