| Poppy seed test | |
|---|---|
| Purpose | to determine if vesicointestinal fistula or colovesical fistula |
Inmedicine, thepoppy seed test is adiagnostic test used before surgery to predict if surgery will find avesicointestinal fistula orcolovesical fistula (an abnormal direct pathway between thecolon andurinary bladder) or other type ofvesicointestinal fistula.[1]
The test is very simple. The patient is fed 1.25 ounces ofpoppy seeds with 12 ounces of fluid or 6 ounces of yogurt. The patient'surine is then collected for the next 48 hours and examined for poppy seeds. If a poppy seed is found in the urine, the patient has a colovesical or related fistula.[2]
The test is very accurate. In a series of 49 patients who underwent surgery for colovesical fistula due tosigmoid diverticulitis, the poppy seed test gave a correct diagnosis more often than abdominopelvic computerized tomography, magnetic resonance tomography of the abdomen,cystogram, retrograde colonic enema, urethrocystoscopy, andcolonoscopy.[3] In a series of 20 patients in theUnited States, the poppy seed test was significantly more accurate thancomputed tomography.[4] In these two series, respectively,sensitivity of the test was 94.6% and 100%. Because of the physical nature of the test,specificity of the test is necessarily 100%.[5]
The test is very inexpensive. In the United States, it has been reported to cost under 6 dollars and twoorders of magnitude less than computed tomography.[4]
The test was first described in theEnglish medical literature in 2001, by a group ofurologists inGermany. From 1994 to 1999, they gave 250 grams (8.8 oz) of poppy seeds to a series of 17 patients, then examined the patients' urine for two days. The test results were correct for all patients: 11 patients with fistulas did pass poppy seeds in their urine and 6 patients without fistulas did not pass poppy seeds.[6]