A new method of quantitative fecal fat microscopy and its correlation withchemically measured fecal fat output

Fecal fat microscopy using the Sudan stain has suffered from a relative lac k of specificity: and results are "qualitative." Therefore, we developed a quantitative fecal fat microscopic method with hopes of improving diagnosti c accuracy. One hundred eighty patients with chronic diarrhea collected sto ols for 1 to 3 days, and fecal fat output was measured by a standard chemic al method, and microscopy was performed by the old qualitative and new quan titative methods. There was a highly statistically significant linear corre lation between quantitative fecal fat microscopy and chemically measured fe cal fat output. The quantitative microscopic method had a sensitivity of 94 % and a specificity of 95%; the traditional method had a sensitivity and sp ecificity of 76% and 99%, respectively. Fecal fat Sudan? microscopy perform ed by a dedicated approach to counting mid size measurement of fat globules can yield a quantitative result that correlates well with chemically measu red fecal fat output and has a high diagnostic accuracy.