Acute pancreatitis is a common disease, characterized by abdominal pain, fever, nausea, and vomiting. If a blood test is conducted, it will be found that the value of serum amylase will increase. So, what is serum amylase in acute pancreatitis? What is the normal value for serum amylase? What is the clinical significance of serum amylase?
1. Acute pancreatitis
Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory response caused by the activation of pancreatic enzymes in the pancreas due to various etiologies, leading to self digestion, edema, bleeding, and even necrosis of pancreatic tissue. Clinically, it is characterized by acute upper abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, and elevated blood pancreatic enzymes. Clinical pathology often divides acute pancreatitis into two types: edema type and hemorrhagic necrosis type.
2. Serum amylase
Serum amylase is a type of amylase mainly secreted by salivary glands and pancreas. Its main function is to break down polysaccharides such as starch and glycogen. The measurement of serum amylase activity is mainly used for the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.
3. Normal value of serum amylase
(1) Enzyme rate method (37 ℃): serum: 20-90U/L;
(2) Iodine colorimetry: serum: 800-1800U/L;
(3) BMD method:
Adults: 25-125U/L;
Adult 70 years old: 28-119U/L.
4. Clinical significance of serum amylase
An increase of more than three times the normal value is considered diagnostic. Starch enzyme is the most commonly used indicator for diagnosing acute pancreatitis in clinical practice. The time for the increase of blood amylase is earlier than that of urine amylase. Blood amylase often starts to rise 2-6 hours after the onset of the disease and reaches its peak 12-24 hours later. Patients with mild acute pancreatitis can recover to normal within 24-56 hours, at the latest within 3-5 days.
However, it should be noted that many acute abdominal diseases are accompanied by elevated blood amylase levels, including appendicitis, gastrointestinal perforation, cholecystitis, etc. Moreover, if the blood amylase test results are normal in patients with acute abdominal diseases, the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis cannot be ruled out. Therefore, high blood amylase levels are not necessarily caused by acute pancreatitis.
What is serum amylase in acute pancreatitis? In fact, serum amylase is a type of amylase that increases when acute pancreatitis occurs. However, an increase in serum amylase is not necessarily caused by acute pancreatitis, as there are many other reasons that can lead to an increase in serum amylase. It is important for everyone to understand this.
