PTH-6 Utility of a home hydrogen breath testing pathway for diagnosis of Small Intestinal bacterial overgrowth

PTH-6 Frigure 1Home breath tests[Figure omitted. See PDF]The average score given for ease of use for the home kit was 3.7/5. 10/14 (71%) of the patients accessed the video link and 4.3/5 said they would recommend this testing method to others.A follow up call was undertaken to ascertain the poor response rate from patients and common feedback included difficulty in understanding instructions, restrictive diet required prior to testing and time constraints.ConclusionsThe initial results from our pilot study show promise and suggest that home testing is a realistic, viable and cost-effective first line option for the management of SIBO in the post covid era.The poor response rate is a concern and steps to remedy this may include follow up telephone consultations, patient education and encouraging patients to access the video link to assist them in performing the test.