THE ACID STEATOCRIT - A MUCH IMPROVED METHOD

The steatocrit method has recently been introduced as a simple screeni ng test for steatorrhea. As it seemed likely that separation of fecal homogenate by centrifugation into a lipid phase, a watery phase, and a solid phase would be pH-dependent, we evaluated the effect of fecal a cidification on steatocrit results. We also compared classical and aci d steatocrit results in healthy children and in patients with cystic f ibrosis and studied the relationship between two steatocrit methods an d fecal fat content as measured by a reference chemical method. Steato crit results increased with the degree of fecal acidification, and max imal results were obtained at the lowest fecal pH values. Means and SE M for classical and acid steatocrit values were 1.1 +/- 0.4% (classica l) versus 3.8 +/- 1% (acid) in controls (n = 6) and 5.4 +/- 1.9% (clas sical) versus 26.9 +/- 4.3% (acid) in cystic fibrosis patients (n = 9) . The correlations between fecal fat content measured chemically and s teatocrit results were 0.18 (p = 0.35) and 0.81 (p < 0.0001) for class ical and acid steatocrit, respectively. We conclude that acidification of fecal homogenates leads to a marked improvement in the steatocrit method.