Posts Tagged ‘breath’
New CPT for H. pylori Test Signals Higher Volumes
CMS has assigned a new CPT code (86318QW) for 31 quick, low-cost immunoassay blood tests for Helicobacter pylori. But, unless you have had an ulcer or are in the GI field, you may not know what Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is. H. pylori is a bacteria that in the 1980s was found to cause 90% of all peptic ulcers. With ulcers costing hospitals $3 billion a year to treat, coverage for H. pylori tests could save a significant amount. Read More »
Lung Cancer Breath Testing: A New Direction in Low-Cost Screening
Similar to blood, just about everything in the body ends up in a patient�s breath, allowing it to be an excellent medium for quick noninvasive diagnostic testing. Currently, there are several emerging breath tests for diagnosing asthma, H. pylori, and pharmaceutical levels in the body, and now, researchers are close to bringing a lung cancer application to market. Lung cancer is a difficult form of cancer to detect in its early stages, so an accurate breath test could have enormous and exciting benefits. Read More »
Breath-Based P450: How Much in Savings?
One very exciting but rarely talked about technology is the identification of the P450 gene to predict drug compatibility and dosage. Now being studied in a breath-based format, it will make testing cheaper and quicker. But why should we care? Read More »