Laboratory profiles of chronic pancreatitis

Objective: To raise the diagnosing efficiency in chronic pancreatitis. Methods: The clinical feature and laboratory data of 88 cases of chronic pancreatitis from 1993 to 2000 were analysed retrospectively. Results: In 88 cases of chronic pancreatitis, the positive rate of the urine N-benzoyl-L-tyrosyl-p-aminobenzoic acid （BT-PABA） test was 84% （42/50）, which of the fecal Sudan test was 73.3% （22/30）. 5 of 6 cases （83.3%） 24 hours quantitative test of fecal fat was positive, and 8 of 10 cases （80%） the fecal elastase test was positive. The rate of blood amylase elevation was 26.5%. The elevation rate of serum CA19-9 was 24.3%. Conclusion: The urine BT-PABA test is more effectual than other tests in diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis. It is necessary to analyse the data in combination of many tests in early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis.