Estimation of¹⁴C-Triolein Assimilation as a Test of Lipid Assimilation

Abstract

Two tests of lipid assimilation based on estimation of 14C-triolein assimilation from expiratory 14CO2 (breath test) and from serum radioactivity of 14C, respectively, were investigated in 48 consecutive patients suspected of having malassimilation. Patients with proven malassimilation had significantly lower expiration of 14CO2 and lower serum radioactivity of 14C than patients with normal lipid assimilation. The se-14C test correctly diagnosed significantly more patients with malassimilation than the breath test; the diagnostic efficiencies were 0.87 and 0.74, respectively. The results of both tests correlated with measurement of faecal fat. However, within the group of patients with proven malassimilation the results of the breath test correlated poorly with faecal fat, whereas a significant correlation was found between the se-14C test and faecal fat within this group. Correspondingly, the correlation between the results of the breath test and the se-14C test was poor, indicating that intermediate metabolism influences the results.

Triglyceride Oxidation in Cystic Fibrosis: A Comparison Between Different 13C‐Labeled Tracer Substances

“…Conventional methods for determination of exocrine pancreatic lipase activity and fat malabsorption are based on direct measurements of the enzyme activity by duodenal intubation and on scintigraphic methods using 14 C‐labeled TGs (2‐6,27,28). The search for useful, noninvasive 13 C breath tests for detection of exocrine pancreatic function has emerged as a challenge.…”

Induction of Artificial Fat Maldigestion by Tetrahydrolipstatin Assessed by the ¹³C-Hiolein Breath Test in Healthy Volunteers

“…Therefore, alternative procedures have been proposed and a number of indirect tests have been suggested to replace this cumbersome gold standard of fat malabsorption [1, 2], e.g. fecal fat estimation by microscopy [6, 7, 8, 9], fat tolerance tests with either measurement of triglycerides in blood [10]or of expiratory 14 CO 2 / 13 CO 2 following administration of 14 C/ 13 C-labeled triglycerides [5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21]. Very recently, Lembcke et al [5]reported promising data with a breath test in patients with pancreatic steatorrhea using 13 C-hiolein as substrate.…”