Observational studyThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2016
Faecal calprotectin in patients with suspected colorectal cancer: a diagnostic accuracy study.
Observational study in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of faecal calprotectin in diagnosis and staging of colorectal neoplasia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC gastroenterology · 2022Pooled it
- Comparison of faecal protein biomarkers' diagnostic accuracy for colorectal advanced neoplasms: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Proton pump inhibitors and the risk of colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.International journal of colorectal disease · 2020Pooled it
- Diagnostic accuracy of fecal calprotectin for screening patients with colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis.The Turkish journal of gastroenterology : the official journal of Turkish Society of Gastroenterology · 2018Pooled it
- Can fecal calprotectin guide the need for colonoscopy in children with suspected polyps?European journal of pediatrics · 2025Observational
- Fecal Arachidonic Acid: A Potential Biomarker for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Severity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Research progress on the diagnostic value of fecal calprotectin in colorectal tumors.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- A novel blood based triage test for colorectal cancer in primary care: a pilot study.BJGP open · 2023Article
- Article
- Pre-diagnostic faecal calprotectin levels in patients with colorectal cancer: a retrospective study.BMC cancer · 2022Article
- Biomarkers to Detect Early-Stage Colorectal Cancer.Biomedicines · 2022Review
- Future of Colorectal Cancer Screening: From One-Size-FITs-All to Tailor-Made.Frontiers in gastroenterology (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The Fast Track FIT study: diagnostic accuracy of faecal immunochemical test for haemoglobin in patients with suspected colorectal cancer.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
- Diagnostic accuracy of fecal calprotectin in predicting significant gastrointestinal diseases.JGH open : an open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2021Article
- Tissue mRNA for S100A4, S100A6, S100A8, S100A9, S100A11 and S100P Proteins in Colorectal Neoplasia: A Pilot Study.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- The Addition of Other Fecal Biomarkers Does Not Improve the Diagnostic Accuracy of Immunochemical Fecal Occult Blood Test Alone in a Colorrectal Cancer Screening Cohort.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Article
- Calcium Binding to the Innate Immune Protein Human Calprotectin Revealed by Integrated Mass Spectrometry.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2020Article
- The combination of quantitative faecal occult blood test and faecal calprotectin is a cost-effective strategy to avoid colonoscopies in symptomatic patients without relevant pathology.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2020Article
- Getting the best out of faecal immunochemical tests and faecal calprotectin.Frontline gastroenterology · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNICE guidance exists for the use of faecal calprotectin (FC) when irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease are suspected. Often, however, colorectal cancer is considered within the differential. Should FC have a high diagnostic accuracy for colorectal cancer, it may be applicable as a primary care screening test for all patients with lower gastrointestinal symptoms.
aimTo determine the negative and positive predictive value (NPV/PPV) of FC in patients referred from primary care with suspected colorectal cancer. DESIGN AND
settingA diagnostic accuracy study conducted at a single secondary care site
methodConsenting patients referred with suspected colorectal cancer within the '2-week wait' pathway provided a stool sample for FC prior to investigation. FC levels were reconciled with end diagnoses: cancer, adenomatous polyps ≥10 mm, and all enteric organic disease.
resultsA total of 654 patients completed the evaluation; median age 69 years, female 56%. The NPV for colorectal cancer was 98.6% and 97.2% when including polyps ≥10 mm. The PPV for all organic enteric disease was 32.7%. The diagnostic yield for cancer based on clinical suspicion was 6.3%. By altering the FC cut-off to fix the NPV at 97.0%, the PPV for cancer increased from 8.7% to 13.3%.
conclusionFC has a high NPV for colorectal cancer and significant polyps in patients with suspected cancer. In total, 27.8% of patients had a normal FC and could safely have been spared a '2-week wait' referral. The addition of FC testing into the current symptom-based assessment has the potential to increase colorectal cancer detection rate yet be clinically and cost effective.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.