Fecal marker levels as predictors of need for endoscopic balloon dilation in Crohn’s disease patients with anastomotic strictures

AIM: To evaluate the accuracy and best cut-off value of fecal calprotectin (FC) and fecal lactoferrin (FL) to predict disease recurrence in asymptomatic patients presenting with anastomotic strictures. METHODS: This was a longitudinal single tertiary center study based on prospectively collected data (recorded in a clinical database created for this purpose) performed between March 2010 and November 2014. Crohn’s disease (CD) patients with anastomotic stricture who submitted to postoperative endoscopic evaluation were included. Stools were collected on the day before bowel cleaning for FC and FL. Endoscopic balloon dilation (EBD) was performed if the patient presented an anastomotic stricture not traversed by the colonoscope, regardless of patients’ symptoms. Successful dilation was defined as passage of the colonoscope through the dilated stricture into the neotermimal ileum. Postoperative recurrence was defined as a modified Rutgeerts score of ≥ i2b. RESULTS: In a total of 178 patients who underwent colonoscopy, 58 presented an anastomotic stricture, 86% were asymptomatic, and 48 (54% male; median age of 46.5 years) were successfully dilated. Immediate success rate was 92% and no complications were recorded. FC and FL levels correlated significantly with endoscopic recurrence (P < 0.001) with an optimal cut-off value of 90.85 µg/g (sensitivity of 95.5%, specificity of 69.2%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 72.4%, negative predictive value (NPV) of 94.7% and accuracy of 81%] for FC and of 5.6 µg/g (sensitivity of 77.3%, specificity of 69.2%, PPV of 68%, NPV of 78.4% and accuracy of 72.9%) for FL. CONCLUSION: Fecal markers are good predictors of CD endoscopic recurrence in patients with asymptomatic anastomotic stricture. FC and FL may guide the need for EBD in this context.