Question

If a patient was tested positive for Fecal Lactoferrin antigen, explain why we would see a lowered hematocrit level.

Answer 1

Lactoferrin is a protein released by neutrophils when there is inflammation.Positive Fecal lactoferrin indicates there is active inflammation in the GIT like inflammatory Bowel Disease(IBD).This stool test is done to distiguish between IBD and non-inflammatory bowel conditions and also to monitor activity of the IBD.Most common IBD are Crohn disease and ulcerative Colitis.

Your question is why we see low haematocrit level in patients with positive fecal lactoferrin test.Hematocrit is percentage of RBC in the blood or ratio of volume of RBC to volume of whole blood..So it will be low when WBC count is too highor when RBC count is low in the blood.Low RBC count occurs commonly in anaemia.Why it is low in bowel inflammation and positive fecal lactoferrin?This is because when there is active inflammation any where in the body including GIT in this case,WBc count increases and RBC percentage in blood decreases.Another reason here can be because of inflammation of bowel in IBD there will be associated nutritional deficiency for iron,Vit B12 and folate leading to anaemia and low hematocrit level.