Reliable and simple app for quantitative determination of calprotectin in stool for in vitro diagnostic use.

SmarTest Calprotectin is a manually performed rapid test including a smartphone app developed for its evaluation to quantitatively detect the inflammatory marker Calprotectin in human stool. It provides assistance in the follow-up and therapy monitoring of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (e.g. Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis).
Calprotectin is a calcium-binding protein that is produced in large quantities by specific immune cells, the neutrophil granulocytes (neutrophils), and released during inflammatory events. In inflammatory bowel diseases, neutrophils migrate into the intestinal lumen and release calprotectin, which can then be detected in the stool. However, on the basis of clinical symptoms, it is often difficult to distinguish patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis from patients suffering from the usual irritable bowel syndrome. With the additional determination of calprotectin in the stool, however, inflammation in the intestinal tract can be diagnosed with clinical certainty. An increased calprotectin concentration in the stool provides information about the presence of inflammation in the intestine. This non-invasive determination of calprotectin can often spare patients with common irritable bowel syndrome an unnecessary invasive colonoscopy in case of low concentrations. Since scientific studies have shown that the concentration of calprotectin in stool correlates well with histological and endoscopic findings of disease activity in patients with IBD, the calprotectin concentration in stool can also be used diagnostically to objectively document therapeutic success. Furthermore, it can be used to monitor currently asymptomatic IBD patients in order to detect and control relapse of IBD at an early stage.