P. WOBMANN¹, Y. STAIGER¹, K. SPANAUS², L. BESTMANN<sup>1

1</sup>Bioanalytica, St.Anna-Strasse 36, CH-6006 Lucerne, Switzerland, ²Institute for Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital Zurich, Rämistrasse 100, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland

Human Pancreatic Elastase-1 (E1), an important marker reflecting exocrine pancreatic function, has been well established during the last few years. As a consequence the amount of E1 determinations in the laboratory has increased rapidly. E1 has to be extracted from faecal specimens. Due to the nature and inhomogeneity of this specimen the workload in the laboratory is high and reduction of hands-on-time is needed by simplification and automation.
In our laboratory we evaluated and compared the CALEX® Cap extraction device to the ScheBo extraction device to speed up and streamline the cumbersome and labour-intensive extraction procedure. Though the management of samples with the ScheBo devices seem to be easier, the vortexing procedure with CALEX® Cap can be automated and thereby reduce the hands-on-time by 50%. As a second step we established and validated the ScheBo ELISA® test on our Euroimmun Analyzer 1. The combination of the CALEX® Cap extraction device together with the new turbidimetric assay fCAL turbo and ScheBo ELISA® is a shift to total automation of calprotectin- and E1-quantification in faeces. Moreover the CALEX® Cap, with its unique stability of 3 days at room temperature, would allow extraction by the patient at home increasing efficacy even more.