Breath testing for the diagnosis of pancreatic disease

Purpose of review Pancreatic function tests are mainly used for the diagnosis of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) in patients with pancreatic diseases or after pancreatic or gastric surgery. Breath tests evaluate not just pancreatic secretion but the digestion capacity of the pancreas. These tests are good candidates for the diagnosis of EPI as they are noninvasive, accurate and easy to apply to clinical practice. Recent findings The C-labelled mixed triglyceride (MTG) breath test has been optimized and validated against adequate reference methods for the diagnosis of EPI in patients with chronic pancreatitis and for the evaluation of the efficacy of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT). In addition, reported C-MTG breath test results in patients with other pancreatic diseases and after pancreatic and gastric surgery support the accuracy and clinical applicability of this test. The evidence of pancreatic function breath tests with other C-labelled substrates is limited. Summary Increasing evidence supports the accuracy and clinical usefulness of the C-MTG breath test for the diagnosis of EPI and the evaluation of the efficacy of PERT in different clinical conditions. Commercial availability of this test is required for a wide clinical use. The use of optimized and validated breath test protocols is mandatory.