Diagnostic Potential of Ratio Between Creatine Kinase and Amylase in Acute Pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an acute inflammatory illness of the pancreas representing a true question in diagnostic process. Laboratory markers of the hepatobiliary tract such as liver transaminases with pancreatic enzymes give a true hint of a hidden diagnosis together with urea, creatinine and creatine kinase (CK).

This clinical study aims to show whether there is any correlation between alpha-amylase and CK or their ratio examining hospitalized patients with AP diagnosis.

From total number of 99 patients with a clinical picture of AP, 71 patients in this retrospective analysis (including both genders) were included according to the presence of two biochemical markers in collected laboratory analysis at admission and 72 hours later on a laboratory check-up: CK and alpha-amylase.

The median CK value of AP cases was 92 (41.75 - 207.25) in the acute period and 73 (37 - 159) after 72h staying in the hospital without statistical significant (p=0.521; p<0.05). However, there was a statistically significant correlation between the parameters of CK at admission and creatine kinase after 72h staying in the hospital. The median value of CK/Amylase ratio in the acute period was 0.168 (0.069 - 0.532) and 0.386 (0.12 - 1.12) after 72 hours of staying in the hospital. There was a statistically significant difference between values of CK/amylase ratio in these two groups (p=0.000; p<0.01).

In conclusion, a connection between CK and alpha-amylase needs to be elucidated in further studies and its existence must be researched both in physiological and pathophysiological conditions, and it is two-way and very complex. This study helped us obtain significant information about the perspective of AP in the potential relation to other non-standard laboratory markers for some diseases.