• Mateusz Sporek, Witold Kolber, Beata Kusnierz-Cabala, Paulina Dumnicka, Anna Gurda-Duda, Marek Kuzniewski, Bogdan Solnica, and Jan Kulig.
• Department of Anatomy, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
• Folia Med Cracov. 2013 Jan 1; 53 (1): 87-95.

AimThe aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as a new predictor of severity in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) at early phase of disease.Materials And MethodThe studied group involved 40 patients (16 women and 24 men) with AP admitted to Ist Dept. of Surgery Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow. Twenty-four patients had mild and twelve severe form of AP. Glasgow and Imrie scores were calculated to evaluate severity of AP. HGF concentrations were measured by ELISA (R&D Systems) on days 1, 3 and 5 after admission within 48 hours after onset of symptoms.ResultsSerum median concentrations of HGF was significantly higher in patients with severe versus mild clinical course of AP on each of the study days (7.61 vs 3.30 ng/mL, p = 0.05 on day 1; 7.19 vs 3.43, p = 0.04 on day 3 and 5.76 vs 2.42, p = 0.02 on day 5). HGF positively correlated with Glasgow and Imrie scores (R = 0.57 and R = 0.51). HGF negatively correlated with fetuin A, a negative acute phase protein (R = -0.60 on day 3 and R = -0.45 on day 5) and positively with CRP (R = 0.93; R = 0.80), SAA (R = 0.78; R = 0.82), IL-6 (R = 0.61; R = 0.77; R = 0.85 on day 1, 3 and 5, respectively) and PMN-elastase (R = 0.58; R = 0.64; R = 0.77). On day 1 of the study, HGF reached the diagnostic sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 50% for the detection of severe and moderate AP.ConclusionsSerum HGF correlates with several inflammatory markers and clinical scores (Glasgow, Imrie) in patients with AP and may be considered a new promising tool in assessing the severity of acute pancreatitis.

18 keywords...

hide…