Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, relapsing-remitting condition of the gastrointestinal tract with an unclear etiology. It is characterized by alternating periods of active inflammation and clinical remission. Among the biomarkers used to assess disease activity, serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and fecal calprotectin (FCP) have emerged as noninvasive, reliable indicators of intestinal inflammation, offering valuable insights into disease monitoring and management. A total of 150 patients with IBD, and 150 control subjects with no history of intestinal resections were included and were prospectively recruited from the IBD Clinic of the National Institute of Hepatology and Tropical Medicine (NHTMRI) and the Clinical Genetics Department of the National Research Centre. (FCP) and (CRP) markers were measured. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the accuracy of FCP and CRP for diagnosing inflammatory activity. The median values of these markers were significantly higher in IBD than in controls. FC was associated with higher sensitivity than CRP for the diagnosis of IBD. ROC curve analysis revealed FCP had higher sensitivity for diagnosing with a higher area under the curve than CRP. We concluded that both (CRP) and (FCP) demonstrated a strong association with colorectal inflammation. These biomarkers can serve as valuable tools for monitoring treatment response, screening asymptomatic individuals, and predicting disease relapse in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
El‐Bassyouni et al. (Tue,) studied this question.