Your specialist at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital Center for Digestive Health and Nutrition will ask about your child’s symptoms and do a physical exam. They will also do one or more of the following tests:
- Breath test. Your child blows into a special bag after drinking a lemon-flavored solution. Their breath is then analyzed for signs of an H. pylori infection.
- Stool test. Testing a sample of your child’s stool can show if they have an H. pylori infection.
- Upper endoscopy. During this test, the doctor looks at the stomach lining directly. While your child is sedated, the doctor passes a thin, flexible tube with a camera through their mouth to their stomach and the first part of their small intestine. The doctor may take a biopsy, which is a small sample of tissue to be analyzed in the lab for H. pylori infection.