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

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 clinical value of this test in acute pancreatitis.

A urine trypsinogen-2 dipstick test was performed on 30 patients with acute pancreatitis upon admission to the emergency room, as well as on 30 patients with non-pancreatic acute abdominal pain, and in 30 healthy subjects.

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 subjects. Patients with severe acute pancreatitis had a frequency of abnormal results 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 trypsinogen-2 results between patients with biliary acute pancreatitis and those with non-biliary acute pancreatitis. Regarding the time-course of urine trypsinogen-2, there were no significant differences during the three days of the study.

The specificity of urine trypsinogen-2 in the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis is good however its sensitivity is low.