Determination of faecal inflammatory marker concentration as a noninvasive method of evaluation of pathological activity in children with inflammatory bowel diseases

PurposeThe optimization of procedure evaluating the severity of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) using non-invasive methods.Patients/methodsOne hundred and nine children with IBD hospitalized in gastroenterology ward between 2009 and 2011 participated in the study. Activity of the disease was evaluated in each patient. Concentration of three inflammatory markers: dimeric form of tumor pyruvate kinase (M2-PK), calprotectin and lactoferrin was evaluated using immunoenzymatic tests.ResultsExistence of a significant correlation between the faecal level of all tested markers and the stage of clinical activity of the disease was demonstrated in children with IBD, both in Crohn's disease (M2-PK p < 0.01; calprotectin p = 0.005; lactoferrin p < 0.01) and in ulcerative colitis group (M2-PK p < 0.01; calprotectin p = 0.004; lactoferrin p < 0.01). A significant difference in the level of markers was found between children with unclassified colitis and the group of patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, but there was no difference between Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The increase in the level of one marker correlated with increasing level of other markers (p < 0.01).Faecal markers seem to correlate well with majority of indicators of inflammatory condition in blood.ConclusionsMeasuring M2-PK, lactoferrin and calprotectin levels in faeces seem to be a useful indicator of the level of disease activity in children with IBD.