Objective:
To investigate the usefulness of the plasma calprotectin values for diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.
Material and Methods:
84 patients who have been diagnosed as acute pancreatitis (AP) were included in this prospective study. Control group (CG) included 30 patients with elective surgery for inguinal hernia or pilonidal sinus. Male to female ratio was 36/48 with a mean age of 44 (19-81) for AP group and male to female ratio was 20/10 with a mean age of 31 (21-56) for control group. Blood samples were taken to EDTA coated tube and then aliquots of serum were stored at -80°C for assaying. Serum Cal was determined using Cal ELISA Kit.
Results:
Cal values were significantly higher in AP cases than in control group (p=0.001), value range from 32 to 490 ng/ml. There was a statistically positive significant relationship between cal and WBC values (r=0.423 p=0.0001), between cal and CRP values (r=0.282 p=0.012), between cal and amylase values (r=0.675 p=0.0001), between cal and lipase values (r=0.595 p=0.0001).
Conclusions:
Plasma calprotectin levels increase nonspecifically with AP. Further studies are needed with larger number of patients who were classified according to the severity of AP.
Keywords: Plasma calprotectin, acute pancreatitis, diagnosis