Faecal chymotrypsin for investigation of exocrine pancreatic function: a comparison of two newly developed tests with the titrimetric method.

Two newly developed photometric assays for the estimation of faecal chymotrypsin were studied in comparison with the established titrimetric method in 46 patients and 8 healthy volunteers, who had undergone a secretin-pancreozymin test for diagnostic purposes. The correlation between the two photometric methods and the titrimetric method was good (r = 0.90 and r = 0.91), revealing similar diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. As both photometric methods are less time-consuming and may be performed using a standard laboratory equipment, they offer a good alternative to the established titrimetric method for faecal chymotrypsin estimation.