Steatocrit, Faeces

Diagnostic Use

Steatorrhoea is the presence of excess fat in faeces. The detection of steatorrhoea is useful for the diagnosis of pancreatic insufficiency and small bowel disorders causing malabsorption, as impaired digestion or absorption can result in fatty stools. Many infants, especially those of low birthweight or pre-term, gain weight slowly in the early neonatal period. One of the reasons for poor weight gain may be the loss of dietary fat in the stools. Children and adults that present with malabsorption symptoms may also be tested for faecal steatocrit. Possible causes include exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, with poor digestion from lack of lipases, loss of bile salts, small intestinal disease, (coeliac disease), cholecholithiasis, chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, giardiasis, IBS, Zollinger syndrome.

The acid steatocrit method of stool fat estimation is a relatively simple micro centrifugation analysis. It is reliable, well established, cost-effective and has a fast turnaround time. It requires only a small amount of faeces, which is particularly useful when sampling from an infant.

It has been established that this method correlates well with the older 72 hour (faecal fat) analysis.

The traditional microscopic examination of stool for fat globules is now replaced by this steatocrit test.

Department

Specialist Biochemistry

Delphic Registration Code

STEA

Laboratory Handling

Separating

Specialist Biochemistry - Freezer

Synonyms

Faecal steatocrit

Turnaround Time

2 weeks

Test Code

5825

Specimen Type

• Faecal

Specimen Requirements

Tube/Container Type:

Preferred

• Pottle

No of Samples Required

1

Paediatric Specimen Requirements

Tube/Container Type:

Preferred

• Pottle

Pre-testing Requirements

It is preferable that adult patients have been on a diet containing 70-100g fat per day for at least 3 days prior to and on the day of sample collection

Additional Specimen Information

Collect 2-3 grams into pottle, Paediatric sample minimum 0.5g (preferably a separate aliquot from calprotectin or elastase)
Collect separate sample if requiring other laboratory tests.
Faecal samples received by the laboratory that have leaked in transit, will be discarded and not processed.
This is due to the possible infectious risks, please recollect.

No laxatives should be given

Aliquot Instructions

Sample Type

• Faecal

Transport to Lab

Frozen
If overnight - Frozen

Interpretation

INFANTS

Both term and premature infants show high and widely variable steatocrit values in the first 6 months of life (“physiological steatorrhoea”). Human milk-fed babies’ steatocrits decrease earlier than formula fed babies. In the first month of life the steatocrit may give very high values (eg. even up to 80-100%) with no differences between feeding regimes

Reference Intervals

For age >6 months:

<10%            normal

10 – 20%     equivocal

>20%           abnormal (Steaorrhoea)

Test Method

The steatocrit is a measure of the amount of fat in faeces. Fat content is expressed as a percentage, derived from the volume of fatty layer by the volume of liquid-free faecal layer after centrifugation. It is a more convenient alternative to the 72 hour faecal fat test as it requires only a single stool sample.

Non-Funded Test Cost

$218.7 (Exclusive of GST)

Billing Code

5825

References

1. Amann, S.T., S.A. Josephson et al (1997)."Acid steatocrit: a simple, rapid gravimetric method to determine steatorrhea" Am J Gastroenterology 92(12):2280-4

2. Van den Neucker, A.M.,E.M. Kerkvliet, et al (2001). "Acid steatocrit: a reliable screening tool for steatorrhoea. "Acta Paedistr 90(8):873-5

3. Van den Neucker A, Forget P, Veneberg JA et al. Acid steatocrit during infancy. Acta Paediatr. 1996:85:1153-1155

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