Previously this blog noted the emergence of calretinin immunohistochemisty (What is calretinin? | gutsandgrowth).  Now, more data has been published indicating that calretinin reduces inconclusive rectal biopsies for the diagnosis of Hirschsprung’s disease (JPGN 2014; 58: 603-07).

The authors analyzed data retrospectively for 45 patients prior to the use of calretinin and 42 patients after calretinin introduction.

Key finding: 37.8% (17 of 45) of patients had inconclusive rectal biopsies prior to use of calretinin compared with 11.9% (5 of 42) after including calretinin immunohistochemistry.