title: A single-specimen fecal chymotrypsin test in the diagnosis of pancreatic insufficiency: correlation with secretin-cholecystokinin and NBT-PABA tests.
abstract: An investigation of fecal chymotrypsin activity on spot fecal specimens was carried out in three groups of subjects, divided as follows: 45 healthy controls (group C); 36 patients with gastroenterological diseases of extrapancreatic origin (group VP); and 42 patients with chronic pancreatitis (group CP). Nineteen patients of group CP underwent pancreozymin-secretin and NBT-PABA tests. The following results, expressed as mg of chymotrypsin/g of feces, were obtained: C = 0.610 +/- 0.203; CP = 0.291 +/- 0.154, p less than 0.001; VP = 0.560 +/- 0.234. FCT showed a sensitivity rate of 78.5% and a specificity rate of 71.6%. The fecal output of chymotrypsin correlated well with the pancreatic secretion of chymotrypsin (r = 0.59, p less than 0.01) and with the percentage of recovery of urinary PABA (r = 0.44, p less than 0.05). We conclude that chymotrypsin assay by the described method on spot stool specimens is a simple, reliable technique which may be considered a good screening test for pancreatic insufficiency. The test will not detect minimal pancreatic disease or minimal pancreatic dysfunction.
mesh_terms: D010129:4-Aminobenzoic Acid; D002918:Chymotrypsin / Q000032:analysis*; D004796:Clinical Enzyme Tests; D004355:Drug Stability; D010188:Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005243:Feces / Q000201:enzymology*; D006801:Humans; D010189:Pancreatic Juice / Q000201:enzymology; D012633:Secretin; D062366:para-Aminobenzoates
chemical_list: D062366:para-Aminobenzoates; D012633:Secretin; C006717:bentiromide; D002918:Chymotrypsin; D010129:4-Aminobenzoic Acid