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How accurate is fecal calprotectin?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 2/20/2018 8:27 PM (GMT -7)
I’ve been on Humira since September, and I’ve been doing really well on it. I want to get pregnant soon, so my doctor ordered bloodwork and a stool test to check inflammatory markers. I did the bloodwork 2 weeks ago, everything came back within normal ranges, and I’m going to drop the stool sample off tomorrow.

How accurate is the fecal calprotectin at detecting inflammation? If it comes back within a normal range, can I feel confident that I’m in remission?

I know a colonoscopy is the best way to confirm remission, but I just had one in September and I’m not sure my insurance would cover another one this soon. I also have some anxiety over the thought of having another colonoscopy, as I’m positive the prep/procedure greatly exacerbated the flare and cdiff infection I had in September which resulted in being hospitalized.

What is everyone’s experience with this? Have you found the calprotectin results were accurate?

Thanks!
Posted 2/20/2018 9:47 PM (GMT -7)
I had been going to the bathroom 8 to 15 times a day for 2 or three weeks 4 months into a flare and mine showed no inflamation. My GI wants to scope. Dunno how it usually is for people.
Posted 2/21/2018 5:53 AM (GMT -7)
My range was so high, I have to retest
Posted 2/21/2018 6:23 AM (GMT -7)
Have you ever had a fecal calprotectin stool test before or would this be your 1st? I ask because the test has a 8-13% false negative/positive rating, meaning that for a small percentage of us the test is always wrong. It's 87% accurate according to the folloiwing:

www.researchgate.net said...
The overall accuracy for the detection of endoscopically active
disease was 87% for calprotectin (cutoff 70 g / g), 66 % for elevated CRP, 54% for blood
leukocytosis, and 40% for the CDAI ≥150.

Source: /www.researchgate.net/profile/Lukas_Bruegger/publication/26813783_Fecal_calprotectin_correlates_more_closely_with_the_Simple_Endoscopic_Score_for_Crohn's_Disease_SES-CD_than_CRP_blood_leukocytes_and_the_CDAI/links/54cf8fe80cf24601c094114e.pdf

Personally, I've had a normal FCP and had very mild UC symptoms (a little bit of occasional blood, and 3-4 bms a day). If you have a little bit of lingering inflammation then it might not catch it.
Posted 2/21/2018 6:37 AM (GMT -7)
Thanks for the feedback. I wish there was a more accurate, less invasive measure of inflammation.

iPoop, I think I had a calprotectin test when I first had symptoms in 2010, but I don’t remember the results of that test and whether or not they were consistent with the colonoscopy. I haven’t had a stool test since then.

Hopefully, I’ll have the results in a few days and will talk to my doctor about what everything means.

Thanks again!
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