Use of the urinary trypsinogen-2 dip stick test in early diagnosis of pancreatitis after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to prove that the urinary trypsinogen-2 dip stick test can be used for early diagnosis of pancreatitis after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).

METHODS: For this prospective, blinded, pilot study, urine samples were collected before ERCP, 1 h after ERCP, and 4 h after ERCP. The urine dipstick test was used to detect trypsinogen-2 on the basis of immunochromatography. The dipstick results were compared with those of current methods used to diagnose post-ERCP pancreatitis. Once the patient disposition was finalized, pancreatic enzymes, clinical findings, and final diagnosis were obtained from the chart and compared with the urine trypsinogen-2 test findings. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated.

RESULTS: The urine trypsinogen dip stick test was performed for 30 patients (15 men and 15 women). Post-ERCP pancreatitis was diagnosed in 5 of 29 patients by clinician assessment, serum pancreatic enzyme levels, or both. The amylase and lipase levels for post-ERCP patients with and without pancreatitis were 650 +/- 145 vs 134 +/- 26 (p = 0.023) and 1,658 +/- 594 vs 84 +/- 17 (p = 0.057), respectively. This statement proves that patients who developed post ERCP pancreatitis had significant elevation of amylase and lipase compared to patients who did not have pancreatitis. For the dip stick test, 6 of 28 patients had positive results in 1 h and 6 of 29 patients had positive results in 4 h. The sensitivity of the 1-h test was 1.0, and the specificity was 0.91. The positive predictive value (PPV) was 0.66, and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 1.0. The sensitivity of the 4-h test was 1.0, and the specificity was 0.96. The PPV was 0.8, and NPV value was 1.0.

CONCLUSION: The urinary trypsinogen-2 dip stick test is useful for early diagnosis of post-ERCP pancreatitis and allows the testing physicians to begin management early in its course.