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Fecal Calprotectin as an Activity Marker of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Children
12nd Department and Clinic of Paediatrics, Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Wroclaw Medical University, Poland.
Insights
Fecal calprotectin is a useful noninvasive marker for assessing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) activity in children. Elevated levels correlate with disease severity, aiding in diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Gastroenterology
- Clinical Diagnostics
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research
Background:
- Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) affect 20% of pediatric patients.
- A need exists for reliable markers to diagnose, assess activity, and monitor treatment in pediatric IBD.
- Current diagnostic and monitoring tools require improvement for this population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate fecal calprotectin as a marker for inflammation severity in children with IBD.
- To determine the diagnostic and monitoring utility of fecal calprotectin in pediatric IBD patients.
- To assess the correlation between fecal calprotectin levels and disease activity.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 156 pediatric patients: 58 with ulcerative colitis (UC), 67 with Crohn's disease (CD), and 31 controls.
- Measurement of fecal calprotectin concentrations in all participants.
- Assessment of inflammatory markers and hemoglobin levels in conjunction with fecal calprotectin.
Main Results:
- Fecal calprotectin levels were elevated in most pediatric IBD patients, including those with mild disease or in remission.
- Normal fecal calprotectin levels were observed in all control subjects.
- Elevated fecal calprotectin correlated with increased disease activity, higher in moderate to severe cases.
Conclusions:
- Fecal calprotectin is a valuable noninvasive biomarker for pediatric IBD.
- Increased fecal calprotectin levels indicate higher disease activity and inflammation.
- Fecal calprotectin aids in monitoring IBD activity and treatment response in children.
Background:
Children constitute 20% of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Still there is a search for a perfect marker for this group of patients which would help in the diagnosis of the disease, in determinating its activity and in monitoring the treatment.
Objectives:
Evaluate the usefulness of the application of calprotectin measurement in stool samples from children with IBD, as a marker of the severity of inflammation.
Material And Methods:
We analysed 156 patients: 58 with ulcerative colitis (UC), 67 with Crohn's disease (CD), and 31 from the control group. In all patients the concentration of calprotectin in the sample of feces, markers of inflammation and hemoglobin were measured.
Results:
Concentration of calprotectin in feces of patients with IBD was above the normal range in all patients with moderate and severe disease and in the majority with mild disease or in remission, but it was normal in all patients from the control group.
Conclusions:
Elevated concentration of fecal calprotectin (FC) was observed in the majority of patients with IBD, but in none from the control group. The number of patients with elevated FC concentration increased together with the disease activity. FC concentration was higher in patients with severe and moderate disease activity. FC concentration in patients with IBD was associated with the increase of inflammatory markers and decreased haemoglobin. Percentage of laboratory abnormalities in children with Crohn's disease and perianal changes was higher. FC concentration can be a noninvasive marker of disease activity in IBD.
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