Akobeng AK - Given that the faecal calprotectin (FC) test is increasingly being used in clinical practice to help select children with gastrointestinal symptoms who might have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and benefit from endoscopies, the researcher provided an overview of the benefits and limitations of the FC test. PubMed was explored for meta-analyses that had examined the diagnostic accuracy of the FC test and the pooled sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing IBD from non-IBD patients were used to calculate likelihood ratios (LR). In children with gastrointestinal symptoms, the FC test should not be used indiscriminately but should be targeted at those who are likely to have IBD.