[Usefulness of serum pancreatic phospholipase A2 determination in patients with various pancreatic diseases].

A radioimmunoassay kit (SHIONORIA P-PLA2) to measure human serum pancreatic phospholipase A2 (P-PLA2) concentrations was evaluated for their basic properties and clinical usefulness. The performance of the kit was found to be quite satisfactory. To test its clinical usefulness, specimens mainly from patients with pancreatic diseases were obtained and examined for serum P-PLA2 levels. All serum specimens from patients with acute pancreatitis (n = 7) were found to have elevated levels of serum P-PLA2. In patients with chronic pancreatitis (n = 93) and pancreatic cancer (n = 37), serum P-PLA2 levels showed a wide range of distribution, from abnormally elevated values to abnormally low values. We compared these data with those of other pancreatic markers such as: amylase, elastase 1, trypsin, and PSTI. Among these, P-PLA2 was highly specific to pancreatic disease and best represented the state of pancreatic disorders. Abnormally elevated levels of serum P-PLA2 concentrations seem to reflect the inflammation of pancreas, while abnormally low levels indicate the hypofunction of pancreatic exocrine glands. These results suggest that the measurement of serum P-PLA2 concentrations is a useful diagnostic test for pancreatic disorders.