How quickly do fecal calprotectin levels respond to an increase or decrease in inflammation?

[Hmmm]

I was hoping one of the very knowledgeable folk on here could educate me on the answer to the above?
That is, do fecal calprotectin levels respond relatively quickly to changes in degree of inflammation or (similiar to ESR for example) do they take a few days to adjust?
Thanks in advance and hope everyone is feeling well today x

 

[Johnnysmom]

I think it takes a while for fecal cal levels to come down. My son had a 586 two years ago this month. We were very concerned and his GI didn't want to repeat the fecal cal for 6 months because he said it would take time to come down. For our own peace of mind we paid for one out of pocket at 3 months and it was 420. Three months later, when the GI wanted him retested it was a 69. So I would say you can see a general trend in 3 months, but it will take at least 6 months to see a big difference.

By the way, we didn't change anything to cause the level to come down. I think he just needed a while to continue healing.

Good luck

 

[Hmmm]

Thanks so much for the reply. I did read your previous posts on the subject with hopeful interest!

My FC was around 1900 when I was admitted to hospital. My GI repeated the test one month later and the result was pretty similar, despite an improvement in my symptoms due to pred. Now she has tested again after 2 weeks... I will get the result when I see her on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if there is any change. I will definitely ask her how quickly the levels respond to changes in inflammation. Hopefully both FC and my bloods are trending in the right direction. I would like to avoid infliximab for a while longer if at all possible!

I hope Johnny is doing well x

 

[Momtotwo]

I agree with the above. I asked our GI about testing my son's FCP after his loading doses of Remicade and the GI said they would still be elevated.

I hope your recent one shows a trend in the right direction.

 

[my little penguin]

Yep same here ....
Took about 6 months to get to normal range .