Ask a doctor on the topic of General medicine

Elevated amylase blood levels/lower lipase levels

July 8, 2010 | 10,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Christoph Schmülling

Hello,

I have been experiencing acute stomach/intestinal problems for a week now (unfortunately they have been recurring for about 2 years now...) and I went to my general practitioner to have some blood tests done. I now have the results, and 2 values are not normal, but she said it's not a problem - which I don't quite understand, as everything seems to indicate that there is something wrong with my pancreas, which could also explain the symptoms of the past 2 years. I have had both a stomach and a colonoscopy this year, the colon was fine but the stomach showed a slight inflammation (3 months ago) and Helicobacter Pylori was detected. Unfortunately, I can't take antibiotics at all, so I can't do anything about it.
Now, onto my blood values and a request for your opinion:

Lipase: 26 U/I

Amylase: 144 + U/l

That's what's written on the page with all the results...on the front page, the two values are listed separately and for some reason it says this:

Amylase: 115 + U/I

I would appreciate a response, as I would like to get rid of these "old" stomach/intestinal problems, possibly with medication if it is indeed related to the pancreas.
Thank you and kind regards, S. Steiner

Dr. med. Christoph Schmülling

Dear Ms./Mr. Steiner,

With the limited information available to me, I can only say the following: the lipase is not elevated, ruling out acute pancreatitis. The reference range for amylase from the lab you used is unknown to me (reference ranges vary depending on the lab and method used), but it is typically below 100, so "your value" would be slightly elevated. However, such a slight increase in amylase is nonspecific as a standalone result and not clinically significant.

Therefore: acute pancreatitis is ruled out by the normal lipase value, chronic pancreatitis cannot be confirmed or ruled out by lab values alone (other methods such as ultrasound are needed first), and the slight elevation in amylase is not indicative.

I can only speculate on the cause of the different amylase values - it could be due to a different reference method or a follow-up test where method-related variations can occur.

I hope this information is helpful to you and wish you all the best.

Kind regards,

Dr. med. Christoph Schmülling