Increase in urinary indican excretion in pancreatic steatorrhoea following replacement therapy

Urinary indican excretion was studied in 5 patients with steatorrhoea of pancreatic origin, 4 patients with steatorrhoea due to other causes, and 5 normal subjects. Treatment with pancreatic extract resulted in an immediate increase in indican excretion to above the normal range in patients with steatorrhoea due to pancreatic insufficiency. Administration of pancreatic extract did not result in a rise in the patients with steatorrhoea not due to pancreatic insufficiency, or in the normal subjects. In one patient with pancreatic insufficiency maintained on a low protein diet, the rise in indican excretion on replacement therapy was much slower and did not reach as high a level as in the patients on a normal protein diet. The possible mechanisms underlying these observations are discussed. It is suggested that the finding of a low indican excretion in the presence of steatorrhoea and its rise to above normal on pancreatic enzyme therapy is strongly suggestive of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.