Intestinal permeability of 51Cr-labelled ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid in patients with Crohn's disease and their healthy relatives

An increased intestinal permeability has been proposed as an aetiologic factor in Crohn's disease. The 24-h urinary excretion of 100 μCi 51Cr-labelled ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was used to test the permeability in 15 patients with Crohn's disease and in 20 healthy first-degree relatives, who were known to have a genetic predisposition to inflammatory bowel disease. Twenty-eight healthy persons not related to patients with inflammatory bowel disease served as control material. The 51Cr-EDTA excretion of the relatives was not significantly higher than that of the controls, whereas patients with Crohn's disease had a significantly higher excretion than both the relatives and the controls. Among patients the increased excretion was found only if the small intestine was involved. It is concluded that 1) as a group, patient with Crohn's disease in the small intestine have an increased intestinal permeability, in contrast to their healthy relatives, who have a normal permeability; 2) a considerable overlap of the results of the 51Cr-EDTA test was found between the groups studied, and the test is not suitable for evaluating individual patients; 3) the results do not support the hypothesis of an increase in intestinal permeability as an aetiologic factor in Crohn's disease. 29 refs