The gold standard investigation in suspected small bowel bacterial overgrowth is small bowel aspiration. The test is invasive and has a significant false negative rate.
Small bowel aspiration is conveniently performed when a biopsy is being performed to exclude other causes of malabsorption; using a pre-sterilised, sheathed cannula, the 2 ml samples must be transported rapidly to the laboratory for aerobic and anaerobic culture.
Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page