Effect of Colonoscopy on Fecal Calprotectin Testing | ||||
African Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology | ||||
Volume 8, Issue 1, 2025, Page 89-99 PDF (488.63 K) | ||||
Document Type: Original Clinical | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/ajgh.2025.382603.1080 | ||||
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Authors | ||||
Mohamed Farouk ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
1Department of Tropical medicine and gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine, New Valley University, Elkharga, Egypt. | ||||
2Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut 71515, Egypt | ||||
3Department of tropical medicine and gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt. | ||||
4Family and Community Medicine Department, PhD, Professor, College of Medicine, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia. | ||||
5Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt. | ||||
6Department of Clinical pathology, Faculty of Medicine, New Valley University, Elkharga, Egypt | ||||
7Tropical Medicine and Gastroenterology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Aswan University, Aswan, Egypt. | ||||
Abstract | ||||
Background: In IBD patients, colonoscopy is essential for diagnosis, determining severity, tracking therapeutic response, screening for malignancy, and making critical therapeutic decisions. A non-invasive diagnostic test is necessary to enhance the filtering of patients who need a colonoscopy. Faecal calprotectin (FC) provides a non-invasive method for measuring disease activity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Aim: Investigating the effect of colonoscopy on testing faecal calprotectin results after the procedure. Patients and Methods: In a quasi-experimental study (a before-and-after design), 34 patients underwent colonoscopy after being tested for fecal calprotectin within one week before the procedure. All patients received the same bowel cleansing preparation. FC was measured at 3 points: (a) specimen 1 (FC1): within one week before bowel cleansing by a laxative, (b) specimen 2 (FC2): within the first 48 hours after colonoscopy, (c) specimen 3 (FC3): one to two weeks after colonoscopy. Results: The FC level significantly increased (p = 0.000) in FC2 in 100% of the study group. The median of the difference in FC levels between FC1 and FC2 was 78 (10-836). FC level increased in FC2 by more than 100 µg/g in 22/34 (64.7%). The greater difference between FC2 and FC1 levels was significantly associated with the colonoscopy''''s longer duration (p = 0.006). The FC level decreased significantly (p = 0.000) in FC3 to a level lower than FC2 in 100% of the study group. FC3 decreased to a level lower than or equal to FC1 in 20 out of 34 (58.8%). Conclusion: Testing for FC can be inaccurate and unreliable if performed too soon after a colonoscopy. | ||||
Keywords | ||||
colonoscopy; fecal calprotectin; inflammatory bowel disease; Stool tests; endoscopy | ||||
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