The importance of calprotectin for differentiating organic inflammatory disease and avoiding unnecessary procedures in paediatrics

Abstract

Background and objective: The objective of the study was to determine the ability of faecal calprotectin to differentiate functional and organic intestinal diseases in paediatric patients, and to evaluate the correlation between inflammatory parameters and levels of faecal calprotectin.

Patients and methods: This retrospective study involved clinical data from 129 paediatric patients with symptoms of intestinal pathology. Faecal calprotectin was determined by quantitative immunoassay. Patients were classified into three groups: functional (32.8% of patients); organic non-inflammatory bowel disease (IBD, 53.9%); and organic IBD (13.3%).

Results: Calprotectin levels were significantly different among the three groups; between patients with IBD and the others, and also between patients with non-organic IBD and functional. Positive associations were found between high levels of calprotectin and higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate (rho=0.497), C-reactive protein (rho=0.460), and platelet count (rho=0.232). Nevertheless, an inverse correlation was found between high levels of calprotectin and transferrin saturation (rho=-0.310), albumin (rho=-0.412), and haemoglobin levels (rho=-0.309).

Discussion: Determination of faecal calprotectin is a complementary tool in clinical practice for discriminating between functional and organic IBD, avoiding, according to the levels of calprotectin, unnecessary invasive procedures in paediatric patients.

Keywords: Calprotectin; Calprotectina; Diagnosis; Diagnóstico; Enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal; Funcional; Functional; Inflammatory bowel disease; Organic; Orgánico.