Abstract

Aim. The aim of this study was to assess the role of fecal calprotectin (FC) in diagnosis of complicated colonic diverticular disease (DD) and to compare it with uncomplicated colonic DD and matched controls. Methods. We studied 57 consecutive patients with a new endoscopic diagnosis of colonic diverticulosis (45 with asymptomatic uncomplicated DD, and 12 with acute diverticulitis) and 25 healthy controls. The level of FC was measured in every case by a semiquantitative test with three categories of results: type 1 (under 15 μg/g), type 2 (15-60 μg/g), and type 3 (more than 60 μg/g). The results were correlated with the degree of histological inflammation of colonic mucosa that was assessed by the degree of lymphocytic cell density. Results. We found higher FC values in acute uncomplicated diverticulitis (p<0.05) than in asymptomatic uncomplicated DD and in healthy controls. There were no differences between uncomplicated colonic DD and healthy controls. FC values increase according to the increase of lymphocytic cell density, showing a statistically significant correlation (p<0. 05). Patients with acute diverticulitis were treated with antibiotics for 10 days; in these patients, reassessment of FC after three months revealed a significant decrease comparingwith the initial level. Conclusions. FCmay be useful to detect colonic inflammation in DD and in distinguishing acute diverticulitis from uncomplicated colonic DD and healthy controls. Also, FC may be useful for follow-up after treatment.

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