Calprotectin (stool) quantitatively
Why this test?
To examine patients with suspected inflammatory bowel disease;
For differential diagnosis with irritable bowel syndrome, other causes of abdominal pain, gastrointestinal bleeding;
For preventive examination of healthy people.
In what cases is it prescribed?
When the patient has spasms, intestinal motility disorders, irregular stools with mucus, weight loss, fever, increased sweating, general weakness, increased fatigue, arthralgia, developmental delay in children, profuse discharge of blood with feces, pathologies of the perianal area (fistulas, abscesses), constipation, abdominal pain (in the lower right quadrant of the abdomen, around the navel), nausea, vomiting.
Test information
In medical practice, the determination of the amount of calprotectin in the patient's feces in combination with clinical manifestations is used to diagnose inflammatory bowel diseases.
Measuring the amount of calprotectin in a patient's stool sample is a simple, non-invasive way of diagnosing inflammatory bowel diseases, which allows the doctor to distinguish this group of diseases from irritable bowel syndrome, in which there is no inflammation of the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract.
Calprotectin is a protein of neutrophils. In fact, it is a protein associated with calcium. It makes up more than 60% of the total number of proteins contained in the cytoplasm of neutrophils (each neutrophil contains 25 picograms of calprotectin). Calprotectin is released from activated leukocytes, which leads to an increase in the concentration of this protein in feces in inflammatory diseases of the corresponding organs.
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) arise as a result of a violation of the host's immune response and intestinal microflora. The main diseases that belong to this group are ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, in which the mucous membrane of any part of the gastrointestinal tract can be damaged. There is a hereditary predisposition to the occurrence of CKD, and patients suffering from this pathology are more prone to the development of malignant neoplasms.
There are a number of studies to confirm the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases, but none of these methods is specific, and the results must be evaluated by a specialist in combination with the data of the examination and the clinical picture. Staged symptomatic therapy aimed at healing defects of the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract and preventing complications of the disease is the main step in the treatment of patients suffering from CKD.
Reference values: 50 μg / g.
If the level of calprotectin in the patient's feces is within the reference values, it means that he does not have inflammatory bowel disease.
A moderate increase in the level of calprotectin requires further monitoring of the patient and performance of the study in dynamics. A significant increase (taking into account the clinical picture) indicates that the patient suffers from an inflammatory bowel disease, therefore a targeted examination and specific therapy is required. It can also be a consequence of the following pathological conditions: bacterial and viral infections of the gastrointestinal tract (salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, adenoviruses, rotaviruses, noroviruses), intestinal neoplasms, diverticula, cystic fibrosis, allergy to cow's milk, celiac disease, intestinal bleeding.
