Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down lipids (fats) into their building blocks. It is produced in the pancreas (pancreas) and released into the duodenum (duodenum). There it then breaks down dietary fats into glycerol and fatty acids. Lipase is a specific marker of acute pancreatitis.
The procedure
Material needed
- Blood serum
- Ascites punctate – punctate from abdominal fluid (abnormal accumulation of fluid in the free abdominal cavity).
Preparation of the patient
- Not necessary
Disruptive factors
- Not known
Standard values
| Standard values in U/l | |
| Blood serum | 13-60 |
| Ascites punctate | < 190 |
Indications
- Suspected pancreatitis, acute/(chronic).
- Acute abdomen – acute abdominal pain with guarding, which may be due to many different conditions.
- Alcoholism
- Acute diarrhea (diarrhea)
- Ascites (abdominal dropsy)
- Malabsorption
- Suspected parotitis
- Suspicion of renal insufficiency
Interpretation
Interpretation of increased values
- Alcoholism
- Acute abdomen
- Acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI; intestinal infarction, mesenteric artery occlusion, mesenteric infarction, mesenteric occlusive disease, angina abdominalis)
- Malignant (malignant) neoplasms, especially in the gastrointestinal tract and lungs.
- Cholecystitis (gallbladder inflammation).
- Gastroenteritis (gastrointestinal flu)
- Hepatitis, viral (inflammation of the liver caused by viruses).
- Ileus (intestinal obstruction)
- Crohn’s disease – chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); usually progresses in relapses and can affect the entire digestive tract; characteristic is the segmental affection of the intestinal mucosa (intestinal mucosa), that is, several intestinal sections may be affected, which are separated from each other by healthy sections.
- Renal insufficiency (kidney weakness).
- Ovarian tumor, pedunculated – neoplasm on the ovary.
- Pancreatic carcinoma (cancer of the pancreas) (increase in serum lipase value = early alarm sign).
- Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) – acute/(chronic) [see below “Further notes”].
- Parotid hypertrophy (parotid gland enlargement).
- Parotitis (parotid gland inflammation)
- Sarcoidosis (synonyms: Boeck’s disease; Schaumann-Besnier’s disease) – systemic disease of connective tissue with granuloma formation.
- Tubal rupture – rupture of the fallopian tube.
- Typhoid fever – infectious disease transmitted by the bacterium Salmonella typhi.
- Trauma (injury) in the area of the upper abdomen.
- Ulcus duodeni (duodenal ulcer)
- Condition after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography (ERCP).
Further notes
- Blood type B (1.53-fold increased risk of chronic pancreatitis; this is due to increased serum lipase activity (1.48-fold)).
- In addition, elastase and amylase should also be determined.
- In acute pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas, elastase should be determined in the serum, because these
- More sensitive than lipase and amylase and
- Longer detectable than lipase and amylase.
- In alcohol-induced form of acute pancreatitis, lipase is the parameter of first choice.
