The Stool Proteolytic Activity in the Diagnosis of Fibrocystic Disease of the Pancreas

WHEN FIB ROC Y S TIC disease of the pancreas is suspected on clinical grounds the test most frequently used to confirm the diagnosis is the estimation of the proteolytic activity of the duodenal juice. In infants, however, intubation of the duodenum and withdrawal of duodenal juice may be a lengthy procedure, exhausting for the patient or maybe unsuccessful at the first attempt; moreover, it necessitates the infant's admission to hospital. For these reasons duodenal intubation should be avoided where possible and Swachman et al. (1949) suggested that this could frequently be achieved by measuring the stool proteolytic activity. The object of the present study was to find out whether the stool proteolytic activity provided a reliable indication of the duodenal juice proteolytic activity in infants under two years of age admitted to the medical wards of a children's hospital.