EUH Morning Report: What is the utility of fecal calprotectin in the diagnosis and management of inflammatory bowel disease?

The Bottom Line:

Fecal calprotectin (FC) is a nonspecific marker of intestinal inflammation. FC has been shown to have high sensitivity and specificity for differentiating between IBD and functional gastrointestinal disorders in both adults and children. It is useful in differentiating between organic and non-organic gastrointestinal disease.

“Using cut-off values of 50 µg/g and 100 µg/g, the estimated demand for colonoscopies was reduced by 50% and 67%, respectively.” (Burri & Beglinger, 2012)

EUH Morning Report: What are extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)?

The Bottom Line:

“Extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs) are commonly reported in IBD patients. It has been reported that 6.2% to 46.6% of IBD patients exhibit one or more EIMs either before or after the diagnosis of IBD.” (Ferri, 2021).

Extraintestinal manifestions of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn disease (CD) include:

• Joint manifestations: Axial arthritis (ankylosing spondylitis [AS] and sacroiliitis [SI]) and peripheral arthropathy
• Skin manifestations: Pyoderma gangrenosum, erythema nodosum, sweet syndrome, and psoriasis
• Hepatobiliary manifestation: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC)
• Ocular manifestations: Uveitis, episcleritis, scleritis, and iritis
• Vascular manifestation: Thromboembolism