Rapid faecal tests for detecting disease activity in colonic inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract Background Increasing numbers of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have raised the need for a rapid noninvasive means to monitor disease activity. We validated two rapid tests for faecal calprotectin and one for faecal lactoferrin and compared them to the most common clinical and endoscopic scores, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) calprotectin test and systemic inflammation markers. Materials and methods The clinical and endoscopic disease activity of 72 patients with colonic IBD, who underwent ileocolonoscopy, was determined. The patients provided stool samples to measure calprotectin and lactoferrin, and blood samples to measure systemic inflammation markers. Results Rapid calprotectin tests correlated significantly with clinical and endoscopic indices and standard ELISA calprotectin in ulcerative colitis, but not in Crohn's disease. CalDetect correlated more closely with ELISA calprotectin than CerTest FC in concentrations exceeding 200 μg/g. CalDetect was also more sensitive in indicating histological remission or mild disease than was CerTest FC at cut‐off of 200 μg/g. CerTest Lactoferrin was comparable to CalDetect in their correlation with clinical, endoscopic and histological scores. Conclusions These rapid tests are suitable for identifying patients with inactive or mildly active disease, but as semiquantitative or qualitative tests, they cannot totally replace ELISA calprotectin in decision‐making related to therapy.