point of care testing of fecal calprotectin as a substitute for routine laboratory analysis

Objectives: Fecal calprotectin (FC) is widely used to monitor the activity of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and to tailor medical treatment to disease activity. Laboratory testing of fecal samples may have a turnaround time of 1–2 weeks, whereas FC home testing allows results within hours and thus enables a rapid response to clinical deterioration. Design and methods: Fifty-five stool samples were analyzed by the IBDoc® Calprotectin Home Testing kit and the BÜHLMANN fCAL® turbo assay on a Roche Cobas 6000 c501. The correlation between the assays was assessed using Spearman's Rho correlation coefficient and the intermediate imprecision of both assays was calculated. Results: We found a strong correlation coefficient of 0.887 between FC measured on IBDoc® and the laboratory assay BÜHLMANN fCAL® turbo. The coefficients of variation (CVs) at three different FC levels were in the range 2.3–5.5% (BÜHLMANN fCAL® turbo) and in the range of 4.8–26.6% (IBDoc®). Conclusions: This study suggests that IBDoc® is a suitable alternative for the assessment of disease activity in IBD patients.