DIAGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF DETERMINATIONS OF SERUM LIPASE

Abstract

A review of recent experimental and clinical data suggests that determinations of serum lipase may be of value in the diagnosis of diseases of the pancreas. The reports in the literature are limited largely to application of the test to groups of selected patients with pancreatic and hepatic diseases. This report is concerned with an analysis of the results of this test on a wide variety of clinical material over a period of three years. It was thought that this type of study might throw some light on the degree of specificity of the test for pancreatic disease and might possibly help to clarify the relation between hepatic dysfunction and hyperlipasemia. METHOD We used a modification of the Loevenhart method, as suggested by Cherry and Crandall.¹ Basically, the method depends on the estimation of fatty acid produced by the' hydrolysis of an olive oil emulsion on which the lipase