title: Polyclonal pancreatic elastase assay is superior to monoclonal assay for diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.
abstract: We compared the clinical values for diagnosis of acute pancreatitis of two commercial assays for pancreatic elastase: an ELISA procedure with monoclonal antibodies and a RIA technique with polyclonal antibodies. In 14 patients with acute pancreatitis, serum concentrations of elastase determined by ELISA (ELISA-elastase) decreased much faster (half-life 0.4 days) than those of elastase determined by RIA (RIA-elastase) (2.2 days), amylase (0.8 days), or lipase (0.9 days). Serum samples from 253 additional patients with abdominal pain (32 of these with acute pancreatitis) were analyzed. In sera collected up to 48 h after the onset of disease, the ROC curves showed a slightly higher diagnostic value of RIA-elastase. In samples taken later, at a sensitivity of 90% the specificity of RIA-elastase was 95% (ELISA-elastase 40%). We conclude that serum ELISA-elastase is of much lower clinical value than RIA-elastase for diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.
authors.affiliation: Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik II, Universität Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Keim
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Teich
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fiedler
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mössner
mesh_terms: D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010196:Pancreatic Elastase / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D010196:Pancreatic Elastase