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The poppy seed test is used to diagnose colo-bladder fistulas, which are abnormal pathways between the bladder and colon. It provides 100% accuracy and is significantly less expensive than other diagnostic methods.
In medicine, doctors typically administer the poppy seed test to pre-operative patients suspected of having a colo-bladder fistula, which is an abnormal pathway between the bladder and the colon. After consuming poppy seeds, patients with this condition do not digest them, which will cause the seeds to appear in the urine. While testing is not a standard procedure in many countries, it can provide doctors with an accurate assessment and allow urologists the ability to judge whether a patient requires surgery.
The poppy seed test was discovered by a group of German urologists in 1994 and was described in the Journal of Urology in 2001. From 1994 to 1999, German urologists administered 8.8 g of poppy seeds to 250 patients. After monitoring each patient’s urine for two days, the urologists found that the 17 colo-bladder fistula patients passed the seeds in their urine. The six patients who did not have colo-bladder fistulas did not pass them this way.
Normally, the urinary system is not connected to a patient’s alimentary canal, however, some conditions – such as diverticulitis, colorectal cancer (CRC), appendicitis and Crohn’s disease – could cause colo-bladder fistulas to develop. Patients who urinate rectally, have recurrent urinary tract infections, or have been diagnosed with pneumaturia or fecaluria, generally have colovesical fistula. In these cases, doctors usually administer the poppy seed test and, if the test reveals a positive result, perform surgery to remove the fistula.
Doctors generally use several diagnostic methods to determine if a patient has a colovesical fistula, such as a fluoroscopy, computed tomography (CT) scan, or endoscopy. Although alternative diagnostic methods generally diagnose the disease, the results are only 70% to 80% accurate. While studying the poppy seed test, doctors found that the test provides 100% accuracy in diagnosing patients, making it the most accurate test available.
In addition to the accuracy of the poppy seed test, doctors have also found that the procedure is significantly less expensive to perform. In one study conducted between 2000 and 2006, doctors used three methods to diagnose 20 patients with confirmed cases of colovesical fistula: a radiolabelled chromium test, a CT scan, and the poppy seed test. The cost to administer the poppy seed method is approximately $5 US dollars (USD), however, the cost to administer a radiolabeled chromium test or CT scan can exceed $500 USD.
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