INTESTINAL INFLAMMATION DIAGNOSTICS

• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
  Chronic intestinal inflammation causes a patient’s abdomen to ache all the time. One cause of inflammation is inflammatory bowel disease. IBD gets worse over time, and its severe symptoms affect the quality of life of people with the disease. The two most common inflammatory bowel diseases are ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
  IBD is often confused with irritable bowel syndrome, which is a disorder that affects the colon’s muscle contractions. Intestinal inflammation is not a symptom of IBS, although abdominal pain may feel similar to the patient.

• Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)
  A C. difficile infection can also cause intestinal inflammation. C. difficile is an infection that most commonly occurs in hospitals and other healthcare settings, like nursing homes. It spreads rapidly, and symptoms include watery diarrhea, fever, appetite loss, and abdominal pain and inflammation.
• Lactoferrin
  Lactoferrin is present in the stools of people with intestinal inflammation due to IBD and C. difficile infection.

Because many symptoms of IBS and IBD are similar, it is difficult to tell the two diseases apart. Lactoferrin testing can:

• A first step to help physicians rule out IBS
• Quickly identify likely IBD patients for further testing
• Non-invasively assess inflammation levels for patients already diagnosed with IBD