Digestive diseases and sciences
-
Hemoglobin-heme is variably converted to porphyrin during enterocolic transit. This intestinal converted fraction, as measured by HemoQuant, was elevated as a predictor of the occult bleeding site in 152 patients with discrete lesions. The intestinal converted fraction, expressed as the percentage of total fecal hemoglobin, was similar with upper gastrointestinal and proximal colon lesions. ⋯ Unfortunately, large within-site variation caused considerable overlap between sites. We conclude that the intestinal converted fraction is influenced by the site and amount of bleeding. However, its clinical utility is compromised by substantial individual differences in luminal hemoglobin metabolism.