Usefulness of Testing for Fecal Calprotectin in Pediatric Gastroenterology Clinical Practice

Abstract

Gastrointestinal tract symptoms such as abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, and fever are frequent causes of visits to the pediatrician. The increasing prevalence of chronic gastrointestinal tract diseases, and the falling median age of their onset, indicate the need to identify new diagnostic methods that can differentiate inflammatory bowel diseases from other gastrointestinal tract conditions. A promising non-invasive and useful marker of intestinal inflammation is fecal calprotectin. The manuscript summarizes currently available information on the use of fecal calprotectin in the diagnosis and monitoring of inflammatory bowel disease in children. It also attempts to determine the effect of concentration on its course of action. Incorporating fecal calprotectin (FC) testing within the framework of primary medical care can decrease the number of children unnecessarily referred for endoscopic or radiologic examination. FC screening benefits patients by reducing any delay in diagnosis and avoiding unnecessary exposure to endoscopy, and benefits physicians by reducing pressure on endoscopy testing and assisting the decision. The present paper emphasizes the role of fecal calprotectin as a non-invasive marker for monitoring disease activity and efficacy of therapy, and predicting postoperative relapses, primarily in patients with IBD.

Inflammatory biomarkers and psychological variables to assess quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a cross-sectional study

“…Another possible explanation for the absence of correlation between inflammation biomarkers and QoL in IBD may be that all patients included in this study were in clinical remission, thus excluding those with active disease, wherein inflammatory marker levels significantly elevate [ 4 , 5 ]. Finally, as proposed by Knisely and colleagues, the lack of correlation between biomarkers and patients could also be associated with cytokine gene polymorphisms.…”

“…This may be because of the sum of predisposing genetic and environmental factors such as diet, tobacco use, or stress at any given time [ 1 , 2 ]. Biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), faecal calprotectin (FC), or cortisol have been used to monitor inflammatory processes [ 3 ] and have proven very useful for diagnosing and monitoring IBD [ 4 , 5 ].…”

Association between molecularly detected Entamoeba species and fecal calprotectin level among a cohort of diarrheic patients

“…The most effective method for diagnosis of IBD is endoscopy but it has the disadvantage of being invasive and costly [35] . On the other hand, Van de Vijver et al [36] demonstrated that endoscopy was not able to confirm the diagnosis of IBD in about 70% of patients and the accuracy of diagnosis was increased by detection of FC which is also noninvasive and a major inflammatory marker. Hence, FC is used as an indicator for IBD and serves as a diagnostic marker due to its resistance to degradation by pancreatic or intestinal secretions [37] .…”

Monitoring of the State of the Intestinal Epithelial Barrier in Children of the First Year of Life With Allergic Enteropathy

“…Диагностическая ценность кальпротектина у детей раннего возраста также вызывает растущий интерес. Повышенные концентрации кальпротектина в кале коррелируют с тяжестью воспалительных процессов при воспалительных заболеваниях кишечника [8,9], но могут встречаться и у здоровых новорожденных [10]. До настоящего времени существуют противоречивые данные о референсных значениях данного маркера у детей первого года жизни, не определена его роль у детей первого года с аллергической энтеропатией [11,12].…”