Abstract
-
In the present investigation, suitability of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometry for total stool fat quantification in patients with normal or impaired exocrine pancreatic function (chronic pancreatitis) has been analyzed in comparison with a conventional chloroform-methanol extraction technique. Basic temperature-dependence studies of NMR spectrometry (90°/180° radiofrequency pulse sequence) on 21 chloroform-methanol extracted pure total stool lipid standards (weight range: 0.05-1.6 g) revealed significantly (P<0.05) improving correlations between NMR signal amplitudes and corresponding weights at increasing temperatures (r=0.952/40° C, r=0.965/60° C, r=0.988/80° C), thus indicating 80° C as optimal temperature for NMR spectrometric total stool fat quantification. In subsequent comparative measureemnts of lyophilized stool samples, NMR spectrometry (at 80° C) and conventional chloroform-methanol extraction provided significantly (P<0.001) correlated results with respect to total fecal fat contents/day of quantitatively collected and homogenized stools in 93 patients with known exocrine pancreatic function (secretin-pancreozymin test), irrespective of whether correlations were determined for all 93 patients (r=0.983) or separately for patients with normal (N=45;r=0.867), moderately reduced (N=31;r=0.946), or highly reduced (N=17;r=0.992) exocrine pancreatic function and correspondingly increased total fecal fat excretions. © 1987 Plenum Publishing Corporation.