[Comparison of the quantitative determination of blood in stools with the Hemoccult test in various digestive tract diseases]

Abstract

The reported investigations of haemoglobin (Hb) concentration in stools of healthy subjects and patients with digestive tract diseases were carried out for determining the physiological value of blood loss into the digestive tract, and for comparing the sensitivity of quantitative and qualitative tests for demonstration of occult blood in stools in cases of colonic neoplasms. The qualitative Haemoccult test was compared to the quantitative test based on heme conversion to porphyrins by iron decoupling, which makes possible determination of total Hb content in stools and measurement of the so called intestinal fraction which develops as a result of Hb conversion to porphyrins in the upper digestive tract.