Evaluation of amylase and lipase levels in blunt trauma abdomen patients

Predictive parameters for early detection of clinically relevant abdominal trauma in multiple-injury or polytraumatised patients: a retrospective analysis

Diagnosis of relevant organ injury after blunt abdominal injury (AI) in multiple-injury/polytraumatised patients is challenging. AI can be distinguished between injuries of parenchymatous organs (POI) of the upper abdomen (liver, spleen) and bowel and mesenteric injuries (BMI). Still, such injuries may be associated with delays in diagnosis and treatment. The present study aimed to verify laboratory parameters, imaging diagnostics, physical examination and related injuries to predict intraabdominal injuries. This retrospective, single-centre study includes data from multiple-injury/polytraumatised patients between 2005 and 2017. Two main groups were defined with relevant abdominal injury (AI+) and without abdominal injury (AI-). The AI+ group was divided into three subgroups: BMI+, BMI+/POI+, and POI+. Groups were compared in a univariate analysis for significant differences. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine predictors for AI+, BMI+ and POI+. 26.3% (271 of 1032) of the included patients had an abdominal injury. Subgroups were composed of 4.7% (49 of 1032) BMI+, 4.7% (48 of 1032) BMI+/POI+ and 16.8% (174 of 1032) POI+. Pathological abdominal signs had a sensitivity of 48.7% and a specificity of 92.4% for AI+. Transaminases were significantly higher in cases of AI+. Pathological computed tomography (CT) (free fluid, parenchymal damage, Bowel Injury Prediction Score (BIPS), CT Grade > 4) was summarised and had a sensitivity of 94.8%, a specificity of 98%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 94.5% and, negative predictive value (NPV) of 98.2% for AI+. The detected predictors for AI+ were pathological abdominal findings (odds ratio (OR) 3.93), pathological multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) (OR 668.9), alanine (ALAT) ≥ 1.23 µmol/ls (OR 2.35) and associated long bone fractures (OR 3.82). Pathological abdominal signs, pathological MSCT and lactate (LAC) levels ≥ 1.94 mmol/l could be calculated as significant risk factors for BMI+. For POI+ pathological abdominal MSCT, ASAT ≥ 1.73 µmol/ls and concomitant thoracic injuries had significant relevance. The study presents reliable risk factors for abdominal injury and its sub-entities. The predictors can be explained by the anatomy of the trunk and existing studies. Elevated transaminases predicted abdominal injury (AI+) and, specifically, the POI+. The pathological MSCT was the most reliable predictive parameter. However, it was essential to include further relevant parameters.

Blunt pancreatic trauma: A Western Trauma Association critical decisions algorithm

BACKGROUND

The Western Trauma Association (WTA) has undertaken publication of best practice clinical practice guidelines on multiple trauma topics. These guidelines are based on scientific evidence, case reports, and best practices per expert opinion. Some of the topics covered by this consensus group do not have the ability to have randomized controlled studies completed because of complexity, ethical issues, financial considerations, or scarcity of experience and cases. Blunt pancreatic trauma falls under one of these clinically complex and rare scenarios. This algorithm is the result of an extensive literature review and input from the WTA membership and WTA Algorithm Committee members.

METHODS

Multiple evidence-based guideline reviews, case reports, and expert opinion were compiled and reviewed.

RESULTS

The algorithm is attached with detailed explanation of each step, supported by data if available.

CONCLUSION

Blunt pancreatic trauma is rare and presents many treatment challenges.

Reducing Phlebotomy, Length of Stay, Cost: Development of a Blunt Abdominal Trauma Pathway in a Level I, Pediatric Trauma Center

OBJECTIVES

Blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) is a leading cause of morbidity in children with higher hemodynamic stabilities when compared with adults. Pediatric patients with BAT can often be managed without surgical interventions; however, laboratory testing is often recommended. Yet, laboratory testing can be costly, and current literature has not identified appropriate pathways or specific tests necessary to detect intra-abdominal injury after BAT. Therefore, the present study evaluated a proposed laboratory testing pathway to determine if it safely reduced draws of complete blood counts, coagulation studies, urinalysis, comprehensive metabolic panels, amylase and lipase levels orders, emergency department (ED) length of stay, and cost in pediatric BAT patients.

METHODS

A retrospective review of levels I, II, and III BAT pediatric patients (n = 329) was performed from 2015 to 2018 at our level I, pediatric trauma center. Patients were then grouped based on pre-post pathway, and differences were calculated using univariate analyses.

RESULTS

After implementation of the pathway, there was a significant decrease in the number of complete blood counts, coagulation studies, urinalysis, comprehensive metabolic panels, amylase, and lipase levels orders ( P < 0.05). Postpathway patients had lower average ED lengths of stay and testing costs compared with the pre pathway patients ( P < 0.05). There was no increase in rates of return to the ED within 30 days, missed injuries, or readmissions of patients to the ED.

CONCLUSIONS

Results displayed that the adoption of a laboratory testing pathway for BAT patients reduced the number of laboratory tests, ED length of stay, and associated costs pediatric patients without impacting quality care.

Avoiding immediate whole-body trauma CT: a prospective observational study in stable trauma patients

High energy blunt trauma patients with normal vital signs are usually investigated with a Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography (CECT) for torso injuries. CECT involves high levels of radiations, often showing no injuries in patients over-triaged to the trauma center. The aim of our study was to suggest an alternative diagnostic protocol based on Emergency Room (ER) tests (physical exam, blood tests, extended FAST, Chest and Pelvis X-ray) to avoid CECT in selected patients. A prospective cohort study was conducted from September 2018 to September 2019. Five hundred patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Patients received torso-CECT scan only if they had at least one positive ER test. The validity of the single component of the protocol and the global validity of the ER tests to detect torso injuries was assessed through sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive value, positive (+ LR) and negative (- LR) likelihood ratio. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of torso injuries. One hundred and seventy patients received a torso-CECT scan because of positive ER tests. ER tests showed a global sensitivity for torso injuries of 86.96% (95% CI 80.17-92.08) specificity of 83.98%(95% CI 79.79-87.60), PPV of 67.42% (95% CI 61.83-72.54), NPV of 94.41% (95% CI 91.63-96.30) + LR of 5.43 (95% CI 4.25-6.93), - LR of 0.16 (95% CI 0.10-0.24). ER tests in an experienced center seem to be able to identify more severe blunt trauma patients needing CECT. Further studies are advisable to confirm these results.

The predictive role of amylase and lipase levels on pancreas injury diagnosis in patients with blunt abdominal trauma

Objectives Despite the low incidence of pancreatic injury in the abdominal blunt trauma (BTA), its early diagnosis is very important; since pancreatic injury is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. However, due to the high association of pancreatic injury with injury of other abdominal organs, its diagnosis may be delayed and complicated. The use of imaging modalities is also subject to limitations for reasons such as cost, unavailability, and harmfulness. Consequently, the present study aimed to investigate the predictive role of amylase and lipase enzyme levels in the final diagnosis of pancreatic injury in patients with BTA. Methods In a prospective diagnostic study, 384 patients with BTA referring to Imam Khomeini hospital of Sari (north of Iran) were enrolled according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Initial patient data including age and sex were recorded. Blood samples were analyzed in the laboratory to measure complete blood count (CBC), amylase and lipase enzyme levels. Patients were followed up during hospitalization and focal ultrasound for abdominal trauma (FAST), CT-Scan and laparotomy results were recorded. Finally, the data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results The level of amylase enzyme was significantly higher in males (p = 0.04), but the level of lipase enzyme was not significantly different between two genders (p > 0.05). The most common symptoms and signs in patients were pain, tenderness, and hematoma, respectively. The frequency of pancreatic injury in all patients with blunt abdominal trauma was 7.5% based of FAST, 7% based on CT-Scan and 12.4% based on laparotomy. Comparison of laboratory findings based on FAST, CT-Scan and laparotomy results showed that the level of amylase and lipase enzymes in patients with internal organ and pancreatic damage were higher than in patients without internal organ injury (p < 0.05). But based on FAST results; patients with pancreatic injury and injury of other organs had no significant difference (p > 0.05). However, comparison of laboratory findings based on CT-Scan and laparotomy results showed a significant increase in the level of amylase and lipase enzymes in patients with pancreatic trauma compared to patients with injury of other organs (p < 0.001). Conclusions The results of this study showed that pancreatic injury in blunt trauma is associated with a significant increase in levels of amylase and lipase enzymes. In addition, an increase in levels of amylase and lipase enzymes is associated with internal organ damage. Serum amylase and lipase levels can be used as useful biomarkers to decide whether to perform CT-Scan or laparotomy.

Findings requiring immediate surgery in blunt abdominal trauma patients with isolated free fluid without solid organ injury on abdominal computed tomography: Retrospective laboratory, clinical and radiologic analysis. A case control study

BACKGROUND

Determining surgical treatment is difficult in blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) patients with isolated free fluid without solid organ injury (IFFWSOI) on abdominal computed tomography (CT). We investigated the laboratory, clinical, and radiologic features of BAT patients with IFFWSOI on abdominal CT requiring surgery.

METHODS

A retrospective medical record review was performed for patients treated at our government-established regional tertiary trauma center from March 2014 to August 2018. A total of 501 patients were identified and reviewed. Patients were divided into Surgery and No Surgery groups for analysis. The Surgery group included patients who underwent surgery during the index admission, while the No Surgery group included patients who did not undergo surgery.

RESULTS

There were significantly more cases of severe fluid collection (61.5% vs. 11.8%; p < 0.001), car accidents (69.2% vs. 35.3%; p = 0.018), and abdominal pain (87.2% vs. 58.8%; p = 0.031) at the emergency department in the Surgery group. Regarding laboratory studies performed at the emergency department, only the median amylase level was significantly higher in the No Surgery group (54.5 U/L vs. 62.5 U/L; p = 0.048). On multivariate logistic regression analysis with adjustments for age and sex, the odds ratio (OR) for severe fluid collection on abdominal CT to predict surgery was 13.52 (p = 0.006), while the OR for abdominal pain was 7.34 (p = 0.036) and the OR for car accident was 2.14 (p = 0.329). In addition, a multivariate logistic regression with adjustment for age, sex, delta neutrophil index, and C-reactive protein, showed the same propensity as the other model, although statistical significance was retained only for severe fluid collection.

CONCLUSION

Surgical treatment should be actively considered in the presence of a large volume of intra-abdominal free fluid, especially when concomitant with abdominal pain or after car accidents in BAT patients without solid organ injury.

Clinical update on management of pancreatic trauma

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic injury is rare and optimal diagnosis and management is still debated. The aim of this study was to review the existing data and consensus on management of pancreatic trauma.

METHODS

Systematic literature review until May 2018.

RESULTS

Pancreas injury is reported in 0.2-0.3% of all trauma patients. Severity is scored by the organ injury scale (OIS), with new scores including physiology needing validation. Diagnosis is difficult, clinical signs subtle, and imaging by ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT) non-specific with <60% sensitivity for pancreatic duct injury. MRCP and ERCP have superior sensitivity (90-100%) for detecting ductal disruption. Early ERCP with stent is a feasible approach for initial management of all branch-duct and most main-duct injuries. Distal pancreatectomy (±splenectomy) may be required for a transected gland distal to the major vessels. Early peripancreatic fluid collections are common in ductal injuries and one-fifth may develop pseudocysts, of which two-thirds can be managed conservatively. Non-operative management has a high success rate (50-75%), even in high-grade injuries, but associated with morbidity. Mortality is related to associated injuries.

CONCLUSION

Pancreatic injuries are rare and can often be managed non-operatively, supported by percutaneous drainage and ductal stenting. Distal pancreatectomy is the most common operative procedure.

Identification of Pancreatic Injury in Patients with Elevated Amylase or Lipase Level Using a Decision Tree Classifier: A Cross-Sectional Retrospective Analysis in a Level I Trauma Center

Background: In trauma patients, pancreatic injury is rare; however, if undiagnosed, it is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Few predictive models are available for the identification of pancreatic injury in trauma patients with elevated serum pancreatic enzymes. In this study, we aimed to construct a model for predicting pancreatic injury using a decision tree (DT) algorithm, along with data obtained from a population-based trauma registry in a Level I trauma center. Methods: A total of 991 patients with elevated serum levels of amylase (>137 U/L) or lipase (>51 U/L), including 46 patients with pancreatic injury and 865 without pancreatic injury between January 2009 and December 2016, were allocated in a ratio of 7:3 to training (n = 642) or test (n = 269) sets. Using the data on patient and injury characteristics as well as laboratory data, the DT algorithm with Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis was performed based on the Gini impurity index, using the rpart function in the rpart package in R. Results: Among the trauma patients with elevated amylase or lipase levels, three groups of patients were identified as having a high risk of pancreatic injury, using the DT model. These included (1) 69% of the patients with lipase level ≥306 U/L; (2) 79% of the patients with lipase level between 154 U/L and 305 U/L and shock index (SI) ≥ 0.72; and (3) 80% of the patients with lipase level <154 U/L with abdomen injury, glucose level <158 mg/dL, amylase level <90 U/L, and neutrophil percentage ≥76%; they had all sustained pancreatic injury. With all variables in the model, the DT achieved an accuracy of 97.9% (sensitivity of 91.4% and specificity of 98.3%) for the training set. In the test set, the DT achieved an accuracy of 93.3%, sensitivity of 72.7%, and specificity of 94.2%. Conclusions: We established a DT model using lipase, SI, and additional conditions (injury to the abdomen, glucose level <158 mg/dL, amylase level <90 U/L, and neutrophils ≥76%) as important nodes to predict three groups of patients with a high risk of pancreatic injury. The proposed decision-making algorithm may help in identifying pancreatic injury among trauma patients with elevated serum amylase or lipase levels.

Patterns and outcomes of traumatic pancreatic injuries: A retrospective review from a large multi-institutional healthcare system

Introduction

Traumatic pancreatic injuries are rare, and morbidity and mortality information are often conflicting. To determine the frequency and outcomes of patients presenting with trauma to the pancreas, we reviewed data from a large multi-institutional healthcare system for mechanism of injury, intervention, subsequent complications, in-hospital morbidity rates, and mortality.

Methods

We performed a retrospective analysis of records of all pancreatic injury cases seen at four healthcare centers from 1990 to 2014. Descriptive measures are presented for continuous and categorical data. Mortality rates were obtained using the publicly accessible Social Security Death Master File.

Results

Of 69 patients with pancreatic injuries, median age was 24 years (range 1–88). Mechanisms of injury were blunt in 87% and penetrating in 11.8%. The median injury grade was 1. Most injuries involved the pancreatic head (24.6%). Median Injury Severity Score at presentation was 9. Thirty-seven (53.6%) patients required surgery. Twenty-five patients (36.2%) required total parenteral nutrition, 34 patients (49.3%) developed intra-abdominal fluid collections, 24 patients (34.8%) developed acute pancreatitis, and three (4.4%) developed endocrine insufficiency requiring insulin. Ten (14.5%) patients died. There were four (5.8%) readmissions and one re-operation (1.4%) within 30 days of discharge.

Conclusion

Traumatic pancreatic injuries occur most frequently in young healthy males with little or no comorbidities, and are generally associated with other acute injuries. Contrary to past reports, our results revealed a low mortality rate but significant morbidity, with the most common complications being intra-abdominal fluid collections, acute pancreatitis, and a need for total parenteral nutrition.

Management and Outcome of Patients with Pancreatic Trauma

Introduction:

Pancreatic trauma is a rare entity occurring in 0.2% of patients with blunt trauma abdomen. Once the diagnosis is made, the management of patients is dependent on multiple variables. Conservative management, suture repair, drainage, and resection have been utilized with varying degree of success. This study is aimed to evaluate the management of patients with pancreatic trauma.

Materials and Methods:

This was a prospective study done in the Department of Surgery in Dayanand Medical College and Hospital where forty hemodynamically stable patients diagnosed to have pancreatic trauma on contrast-enhanced computed tomography abdomen were included in the study.

Results:

Out of forty patients taken in this study, 38 were male and two were female with age ranging from 3 to 50 years. Road traffic accident was the most common cause of pancreatic injury. Pancreatic injuries were graded according to the American Association for Surgery in Trauma scale. Twelve patients had Grade I and II injuries. Grade III was the most common injury occurring in 14 patients. Twenty-four patients underwent surgical management. Mortality rate was 45% and it was in direct correlation with the severity of injury.

Conclusion:

Grade I and II pancreatic injury can be managed conservatively depending upon the hemodynamic status of the patient. Grade III and IV injuries have a better prognosis if managed surgically.

Association Between the Pancreatic Enzyme Level and Organ Failure in Trauma Patients

BACKGROUND

The literature suggests an association of pancreatic enzymes with systemic inflammation resulting in secondary organ injury and dysfunction following trauma. Elevation in serum enzymes may not always be predictive of pancreatic disease, and can reflect extra pancreatic production.

OBJECTIVES

This study was conducted to evaluate the rise in serum pancreatic enzyme levels with the incidence of organ failure following trauma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A retrospective review was performed on critically injured patients from December 2009 to March 2010. Patient's clinical demographics, routine laboratory investigations along with amylase and lipase levels were also extracted from the patients' records. Patients with pancreatic or duodenal injuries were excluded from the study.

RESULTS

From a total of 296 patients (mean age, 31 years), 85% were males. Blunt injury was seen in 91.6% of the cases and 8.4% had penetrating injury. One hundred and fifty-three patients had single organ failure, 96 had multiple organ failure and 47 had no organ failure. There was a significant difference in lipase levels (P = 0.04), potassium levels (P = 0.05) and hemoglobin levels (P = -0.004), among the three patient groups. There was no significant difference in amylase levels among the three patient groups. The observed independent predictors of mortality included coagulopathy (OR = 1.7), Glasgow coma scale (OR = 1.1, 4.7), pulmonary failure (OR = 0.0004), hepatic failure (OR = 0.048), renal failure (OR = 5.5), organ failure (OR =149.8), lipase levels (OR = 1.3), and infection (OR = 3.0).

CONCLUSIONS

There was a significant correlation between elevated lipase levels and the incidence of multiple organ failure. Moreover, No significant association was found between the elevated amylase levels and organ failure. However, on admission, measurement of these enzymes coupled with routine laboratory investigations can be a powerful tool in the early detection of patients progressing towards organ failure.

Role of Amylase and Lipase Levels in Diagnosis of Blunt Trauma Abdomen

INTRODUCTION

Blunt Trauma Abdomen (BTA) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality amongst all age groups. Spectrum of injury may vary from simple to life threatening multi organ involvement and therefore proper assessment and diagnosis becomes very important.

AIM

To evaluate the role of serum amylase and lipase in diagnosis of blunt trauma abdomen.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was done on 50 patients with diagnosis of BTA admitted in Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana. Serum amylase and lipase levels were estimated on days 1, 3 and 5 of admission.

RESULTS

Road side accident was the most common aetiology accounting for 40 patients. Thirty one patients were less than 35 years of age and 42 patients were males. Abdominal tenderness was the most common per abdomen finding, found in 31 patients, followed by distension, found in 21 patients. The most common organ injured was liver, seen in 27 patients. Fifteen patients underwent laparotomy while 35 patients were managed conservatively. There was statistically significant rise in serum amylase levels on days 1, 3 and 5 in patients with small and large intestinal injury. There was statistically significant rise in serum lipase levels on days 1, 3 and 5 in patients with stomach injury. Raised levels of serum amylase and lipase had a statistically significant prediction for the need of surgery in these patients.

CONCLUSION

Serum amylase and lipase levels, when coupled with other laboratory tests and imaging modalities, may have significant role in predicting the site of injury as well as the surgical outcome in patients of BTA.

Duodenal perforation as result of blunt abdominal trauma in childhood

Blunt abdominal trauma may cause severe intra-abdominal injuries, while clinical findings could be mild or absent directly after the trauma. The absence of clinical findings could mislead physicians into underestimating the severity of the injury at the primary survey, and inevitably leads to a delay in the diagnosis. The Blunt Abdominal Trauma in Children (BATiC) score may help to identify children who are at a high risk for intra-abdominal injuries in an early stage and requires additional tests directly. A case of a 10-year-old girl with a duodenal perforation after a blunt abdominal trauma is presented. A delay in diagnosis may lead to an increased morbidity and mortality rate. A low admission threshold for children with abdominal pain after a blunt trauma is recommended.

High Expression Levels of Trigger Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1 on Neutrophils Associated with Increased Severity of Acute Pancreatitis in Mice

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM)-1 expression on neutrophils is associated with inflammation and infection. However, the dynamic changes of the TREM-1 expression on neutrophils have not been clarified in inflammatory acute pancreatitis (AP). The aim of this study was to longitudinally investigate the TREM-1 expression on peripheral blood and peritoneal neutrophils and its relationship with the levels of plasma cytokines and disease severity in a mouse model of AP following injection with varying doses of L-arginine to induce mild AP (MAP) or severe AP (SAP). The results indicated that induction of MAP or SAP was associated with moderate and severe pancreatic tissue damage and varying levels of serum and peritoneal fluid amylase as well as survival rates in mice. In comparison with that in the healthy controls, significantly increased percentages of peripheral blood and peritoneal fluid CD14-TREM-1(+) neutrophils and higher levels of TREM-1 mRNA transcripts in peripheral blood nuclear cells were detected in the MAP and SAP mice, particularly in the SAP mice. Higher levels of plasma tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), but lower levels of plasma interleukin (IL)-10, were detected in the MAP and SAP mice at varying time points post induction. The percentages of peripheral blood CD14-TREM-1(+) neutrophils were correlated positively with the levels of TNF-α, GM-CSF, and amylase as well as the pathogenic scores, but negatively with the levels of IL-10 in the AP mice. Therefore, TREM-1(+) neutrophils may participate in the pathogenesis of AP and serve as a biomarker for evaluating the severity of AP.

Utility of serum pancreatic enzyme levels in diagnosing blunt trauma to the pancreas: a prospective study with systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Reliability of serum pancreatic enzyme levels in predicting pancreatic injuries has been a parameter of interest and the present recommendations on its utility are based primarily on anecdotal observations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of serum pancreatic enzyme assessment in predicting blunt pancreatic injury with imaging and surgical correlation and compare our results with a systematic review of literature till date.

METHODS

A prospective cohort study conducted over 4 years in a tertiary care referral centre with 164 consecutive patients who presented to the emergency department with a history of blunt abdominal trauma and had serum pancreatic enzyme assessment, USG and subsequent diagnostic CECT were analyzed. The CT findings and AAST grade of pancreatic injury, various intra-abdominal injuries and time elapsed since injury and other associated factors were correlated with serum pancreatic enzyme levels. For systematic review of literature MEDLINE database was searched between 1940 and 2012, also the related citations and bibliographies of relevant articles were analyzed and 40 articles were included for review. We compared our results with the systematic critique of literature till date to formulate recommendations.

RESULTS

33(21%) patients had pancreatic injury documented on CT and were graded according to AAST. Statistically significant elevated serum amylase levels were observed in patients with pancreatic and bowel injuries. However, elevated serum lipase was observed specifically in patients with pancreatic injury with or without bowel injury. Combined serum amylase and lipase showed 100% specificity, 85% sensitivity in predicting pancreatic injury. Elevated (n=28, 85%) vs. normal (n=5, 15%) serum amylase and lipase levels showed sole statistically significant association with time elapse since injury to admission, with a cutoff of 3h.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on our results and the systematic review of the literature till date we conclude, persistently elevated or rising combined estimation of serum amylase and lipase levels are reliable indicators of pancreatic injury and is time dependent, nondiagnostic within 6h or less after trauma. In resource constrained countries where CT is not available everywhere it may support a clinical suspicion of pancreatic injury and can be reliable and cost-effective as a screening tool.

Serum lipase for assessment of pancreatic trauma

PURPOSE

Pancreatic enzymes are routinely measured during reception of trauma patients to assess for pancreatic injury despite conflicting evidence on their utility. The aim of this study was to investigate the utility of routine initial serum lipase measurement for the diagnosis of acute pancreatic trauma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Lipase measurements were introduced as part of the trauma pathology panel and requested on all patients who presented to an adult major trauma service and met trauma call-out criteria. Clinical records of these patients were extracted from the trauma registry and retrospectively reviewed. The performance of an initial serum lipase level measured on presentation to detect pancreatic trauma was determined.

RESULTS

There were 2,580 patients included in the study, with 17 patients diagnosed with pancreatic trauma. An elevated lipase was recorded in 390 patients. Statistically significant associations were observed for elevated lipase in patients with pancreatic trauma, head injury, acute alcohol ingestion and massive blood transfusion. As a test for pancreatic trauma, an abnormal serum lipase result had a specificity of 85.3 % (95 % CI 83.8-86.6), sensitivity of 76.5 % (95 % CI 49.8-92.2), positive predictive value of 3.3 % (95 % CI 1.8-5.8) and negative predictive value of 99.8 % (95 % CI 99.4-99.9). Higher cut-offs of serum lipase did not result in better performance.

CONCLUSIONS

A normal serum lipase result can be a useful adjunct to exclude pancreatic injury. A positive lipase result, regardless of the cut-off used, was not reliably associated with pancreatic trauma, and should not be used to guide further assessment.