Development
SeHCAT is a taurine-conjugated bile acid analog which was synthesized for use as a radiopharmaceutical to investigate in vivo the enterohepatic circulation of bile salts. By incorporating the gamma-emitter 75Se into the SeHCAT molecule, the retention in the body or the loss of this compound into the feces could be studied easily using a standard gamma camera, available in most clinical nuclear medicine departments.
SeHCAT has been shown to be absorbed from the gut and excreted into the bile at the same rate as cholic acid, one of the major natural bile acids in humans. It undergoes secretion into the biliary tree, gallbladder and intestine in response to food, and is reabsorbed efficiently in the ileum, with kinetics similar to natural bile acids. It was soon shown to be the most convenient and accurate method available to assess and measure bile acid turnover in the intestine. SeHCAT testing was commercially developed by Amersham International Ltd (Amersham plc is now part of GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics division) for clinical use to investigate malabsorption in patients with diarrhea. This test has replaced 14C-labeled glycocholic acid (or taurocholic acid) breath tests and fecal bile acid measurements, which now have no place in the routine clinical investigation of malabsorption.
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