Serum amylase and acute pancreatitis
Date First Published:
August 3, 2002
Last Updated:
November 19, 2003
Report by:
John Butler, Specialist Registrar in Emergency Medicine (Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport)
Search checked by:
Damian Bates, Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport
Three-Part Question:
In [patients with abdominal pain] does [a normal serum amylase] exclude [the diagnosis of pancreatitis]
Clinical Scenario:
A 44 year old man presents to the emergency department with a four hour history of severe epigastric pain. You consider a diagnosis of pancreatitis and organise a serum amylase to be taken. You wonder if a single normal serum amylase result is sufficiently sensitive to rule out pancreatitis in this patient.
Search Strategy:
Medline 1966–07/03, Embase 1980-07/03 using the Ovid interface.
Search Details:
[(exp Abdominal pain/ OR abdominal pain.mp OR exp Pancreatitis/ OR pancreatitis, acute necrotising/ OR pancreatitis, alcoholic/ OR pancreatitis.mp) AND (exp Amylases OR amylase$ OR amylase.mp) AND (exp SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY OR (sensitivity.mp AND specificity.mp)] LIMIT to human AND English.
Outcome:
Altogether 191 papers found of which 4 papers were relevant to the original question.
Relevant Paper(s):
| Study Title | Patient Group | Study type (level of evidence) | Outcomes | Key results | Study Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic assays in Acute Pancreatitis. Steinberg WM, Goldstein SS, Davis ND, et al. 1985, USA | 39 patients with pancreatitis were compared with 127 controls with abdominal pain | Diagnostic Study | Sensitivity and specificity of two amylase serum assays for pancreatitis. Using upper limit of normal | Amylase 1 = sensitivity 94.9% specificity 88.9%. Amylase 2 = sensitivity 94.9% specificity 86.0% | Various techniques used to confirm diagnosis including CT scans, laparotomy, USS scans Patients referred to gastroenterology team with diagnosis based on serum amylase result, thus spectrum bias |
| Using best cut off | Amylase 1 = sensitivity 94.8% specificity 98.4% Amylase 2 = sensitivity 92.3% specificity 100% | ||||
| Serum amylase, isoamylase, and lipase in the acute abdomen. Their diagnostic value for acute pancreatitis. Lin XZ, Wang SS, Tsai YT, et al. 1989, Taiwan | 62 consecutive patients with image-proven pancreatitits, and 414 patients with an acute abdomen | Diagnostic Study | Sensitivity and specificity of serum amylase at selected cut-off 3 times above upper limit of normal | Sensitivity of serum amylase: 84% in image proven pancreatitis, 92% in patients with or without image verified disease | Problems with gold standard diagnosis of pancreatitis Serum amylase used in diagnosis. (incooperation bias) Various gold standards used within the study |
| Acute pancreatitis and normoamylasemia. Not an uncommon combination. Clavien PA, Robert J, Meyer P, et al. 1989, Canada | 352 consecutive attacks of acute pancreatitis in 318 patients | Diagnostic study | Sensitivity and specificity of serum amylase (<160IU/l) compared to gold standards of CT or laparotomy | Sensitivity of 81% at presentation | Chronic pancreatitis patients were excluded |
| Relation of diagnostic serum amylase levels to aetiology and severity of acute pancreatitis Winslet M, Hall C, London NJ, et al. 1992, UK | 417 patients with acute pancreatitis | Diagnostic Study | Sensitivity of serum amylase (>1000IU) for detecting acute pancreatitis at hospital admission | Mild cases 96.1%. Severe cases 87.4%. Alcohol subgroup 86% | Variable gold standards used Not all patients had CT |
| Sensitivity of serum amylase (>1000IU) for detecting acute pancreatitis at 48 hours | Mild cases 33.3% Severe cases 48.2%. Alcohol subgroup 76% |
Author Commentary:
The gold standard for the diagnosis of pancreatitis is considered to be surgical examination at laparotomy or pancreatic histology. Often in practice such information is either unavailable or obtained at post-mortem. In the absence of a readily available gold standard it becomes necessary to evaluate serum diagnostic markers against radiological methods such as CT scanning. Only two studies used an independent 'gold standard' for all patients to compare the diagnostic test under consideration. Despite this weakness all the above studies except one reported sensitivities below 95%, especially in alcohol-related pancreatitis cases.
Bottom Line:
In patients presenting to the emergency department with acute abdominal pain a normal serum amylase concentration is not sufficiently sensitive to rule out the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.
Level of Evidence:
Level 2: Studies considered were neither 1 or 3
References:
- Steinberg WM, Goldstein SS, Davis ND, et al.. Diagnostic assays in Acute Pancreatitis.
- Lin XZ, Wang SS, Tsai YT, et al.. Serum amylase, isoamylase, and lipase in the acute abdomen. Their diagnostic value for acute pancreatitis.
- Clavien PA, Robert J, Meyer P, et al.. Acute pancreatitis and normoamylasemia. Not an uncommon combination.
- Winslet M, Hall C, London NJ, et al.. Relation of diagnostic serum amylase levels to aetiology and severity of acute pancreatitis