Fecal excretion and the clearance of alpha 1-antitrypsin in patients with Crohn's disease
López, A.; Hinojosa, J.; Miralles, A.; Primo, J.; Bermúdez, J.D.
Revista Espanola de Enfermedades Digestivas Organo Oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Patologia Digestiva 83(4): 235-239
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 1130-0108 PMID: 8494651 Document Number: 408184
In previous work we defined the normal values of faecal alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1ATF) and their plasmatic clearance (CLAT) in 25 healthy patients. The aim of the present study is to compare these previous results with new results obtained when we applied this test to 30 patients with Crohn's disease (CD). We also show the good performance of the mentioned tests as indicators of the intestinal inflammatory activity. We compare the values of A1ATF and CLAT of healthy patients with those of CD patients. We also compare the Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and Simple Index between active and inactive CD patients. Our results show significant differences between A1ATF excretion and CLAT as measured in healthy and CD patients. The relationship between those parameters could be explained by the equation CLAT = 0.325 x A1ATF. Active and inactive CD patients only differ significantly with respect to their leucocytes and C reactive protein values. In our group the A1ATF excretion is larger in CD patients with colonic disease.