A screening test for steatorrhoea using 131I-labelled triolein.

During recent years there has been increasing interest in the study of fat absorption, particularly in the investigation of conditions associated with steatorrhoea. The need for a single diagnostic test for steatorrhoea, suitable for use with both outpatients and in-patients, has become apparent. Ideally, such a test should be easy to carry out for the patient and nursing staff as well as for the laboratory technician, and should distinguish, without equivocation, between steatorrhoea and other conditions. So far, no such test has been published, but the procedure described in this paper goes a long way towards meeting these requirements, being simple, easy, and convenient to carry out, and, on the whole, giving a definite answer about the presence or absence of steatorrhoea. In addition, there is given a convenient method for the preparation of neutral fat or fatty acid labelled with 1311.