Monitoring Crohn's disease after surgery

Prof Peter Gibson, one of the
study's authors

Crohn's disease (CD) usually recurs after intestinal resection; postoperative endoscopic monitoring and tailored treatment can reduce the chance of recurrence. The researchers investigated whether monitoring levels of fecal calprotectin (FC) can substitute for endoscopic analysis of the mucosa. In this analysis of data from a prospective clinical trial, FC measurement has sufficient sensitivity and NPV values to monitor for CD recurrence after intestinal resection. Its predictive value might be used to identify patients most likely to relapse. After treatment for recurrence, the FC level can be used to monitor response to treatment. It predicts which patients will have disease recurrence with greater accuracy than CRP level or CDAI score.


Reference: Wright EK, Kamm MA, De Cruz P, Hamilton AL, Ritchie KJ, Krejany EO, Leach S, Gorelik A, Liew D, Prideaux L, Lawrance IC, Andrews JM, Bampton PA, Jakobovits SL, Florin TH, Gibson PR, Debinski H, Macrae FA, Samuel D, Kronborg I, Radford-Smith G, Selby W, Johnston M, Woods R, Elliott PR, Bell SJ, Brown SJ, Connell WR, Day AS, Desmond PV, Gearry RB. Measurement of fecal calprotectin improves monitoring and detection of recurrence of Crohn's disease after surgery. Gastroenterology. 2015 May;148(5):938-947.e1. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2015.01.026