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Fecal chymotrypsin in alcoholic liver disease

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Abstract

Fecal chymotrypsin assays were done on 34 patients with alcoholic liver disease. Only one such patient had low fecal activity. Correlation of fecal chymotrypsin with fat malabsorption and duodenal drainage tests was undertaken. Although fat malabsorption was frequently encountered (13 of 34), the low incidence of abnormal fecal chymotrypsin suggests that severe pancreatic exocrine insufficiency is an unusual occurrence in this population. Six patients had pancreozymin-secretin tests and Lundh test meals and one showed abnormal results, but fecal chymotrypsin assays were uniformly normal in this small subgroup.

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Moeller, D.D., Dunn, G.D. & Klotz, A.P. Fecal chymotrypsin in alcoholic liver disease. Digest Dis Sci 19, 1138–1142 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01076149

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