Time-course and clinical value of the urine trypsinogen-2 dipstick test inacute pancreatitis

Objective Urine trypsinogen-2 has been suggested as a marker of damage due to acute pancreatitis. Our aim was to assess the time-course and the clinic al value of this test in acute pancreatitis. Methods A urine trypsinogen-2 dipstick test was performed on 30 patients wi th acute pancreatitis upon admission to the emergency room, as well as on 3 0 patients with non-pancreatic acute abdominal pain, and in 30 healthy subj ects. Results In 53.3% of the patients with acute pancreatitis the dipstick test showed abnormal urine trypsinogen-2 whereas this test gave negative results in all patients with non-pancreatic acute abdomen and in all healthy subje cts. Patients with severe acute pancreatitis had a frequency of abnormal re sults of urine trypsinogen-2 (8/9, 88.9%; 95% CI, 51.8-99.7%) significantly higher (P = 0.031) than those with the mild disease (8/21, 38.1%; 95% CI, 18.1-61.6%), while no significant differences were found in the urine tryps inogen-2 results between patients with biliary acute pancreatitis and those with non-biliary acute pancreatitis. Regarding the time-course of urine tr ypsinogen-2, there were no significant differences during the three days of the study. Conclusions The specificity of urine trypsinogen-2 in the diagnosis of acut e pancreatitis is good however its sensitivity is low. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 13:269-274 (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.