Fecal calprotectin levels ID severity of Crohn's in small bowel

(HealthDay)—Fecal calprotectin (FC) levels correlate with the severity of Crohn's disease (CD) of the small bowel, as identified by balloon-assisted enteroscopy and computed tomography enterography (CTE), according to a study published in the January issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Tsunetaka Arai, from the Toho University Sakura Medical Center in Japan, and colleagues conducted a prospective study involving 123 patients with CD (35 with ileitis, 72 with ileocolitis, and 16 with colitis) who underwent balloon-assisted enteroscopy from May 2012 through July 2015. Seventeen patients with balloon-assisted enteroscopy-detected strictures underwent CTE evaluation. A CTE scoring system was developed for disease severity.

The researchers observed a correlation between the level of FC and the simple endoscopic index for CD score, even among patients with only active disease of the small intestine. In the 17 patients with strictures that could not be passed with the enteroscope, CTE detected all lesions beyond the strictures and those in areas in the distal sides of the strictures. In these patients there was a correlation between the level of FC and CTE. The FC cut-off for mucosal healing was 215 µg/g in receiver operating characteristic analyses, which identified patients with healing with a sensitivity and specificity of 82.8 and 71.4 percent, respectively.

"A combination of measurement of level of FC and CTE appears to be effective for monitoring CD activity in patients with small intestinal CD," the authors write.

Copyright © 2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved.