Determination of the faecal excretion of labelled bile salts after i.v. administration of 14C-cholic acid. An evaluation of the bile salt malabsorption before and after surgery in patients with Crohn's disease.

By measuring total faecal radioactivity, correlated to 24-hour enterohepatic circulation, following i.v. administration of 14C-cholic acid, bile salt malabsorption was evaluated before and/or after surgery in 80 patients with Crohn's disease localized to the ileum and/or the colon and the results related to the length of ileum diseased or resected. Before operation bile salt malabsorption was observed only in patients with inflammation of the terminal ileum, but no significant correlation was found between bile salt excretion and the extent of ileal disease. In patients subjected to ileal resection with sacrifice of the ileocaecal valve, bile salt malabsorption correlated strongly to the length of ileum resected. This correlation was about the same in ileostomy patients and in patients subjected to restorative operation. We concluded that determination of 14C in faeces is a more sensitive test than the Schilling test and the faecal fat excretion test in reflecting ileal dysfunction, at least in patients with ileal resections.