Calprotectin (stool) qualitatively

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 IBDs, 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 IBDs.