The main cause for elevated amylase is pancreatitis, arising in 80% of patients. Levels rise within the first few hours of the onset of pancreatitis, up to 3–4 times but can rise as high as 15 times the upper level of normal, peaking at around 48 hours. It is important to note that amylase can be normal in some cases of severe pancreatitis, especially relapsing or chronic pancreatitis. Renal failure can cause levels to rise as renal clearance is reduced.
Amylase
Amylase
Serum amylase is a pancreatic enzyme which is normally measured in the diagnosis of acute abdominal pain.
Higher than normal concentrations can reflect other medical conditions including pancreatic carcinoma, mumps infection, cholecystitis, mesenteric infarction, perforated duodenal ulcer, intestinal obstruction or peritonitis, hepatitis, post ERCP, trauma, DKA and acute alcohol intoxification and macroamylasaemia. Amylase may be measured in other body fluids, including urine and peritoneal fluid.
Case Study
Delivering True Innovation
Our Services
5mL venous serum or plasma
Enfer Medical
Tests/Assays
Enfer Medical offers Enzymatic technology for the quantitative assay for Amylase. This test is CE-IVD certified.
Patient
Request Form
For clients using the Enfer Medical Client Portal, the Enfer Medical Patient Request Form (PRF) will be generated when you have completed your “Test Request” within the portal linked below.
Please note that samples suspected of containing high risk pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis should be clearly identified on the form and packed separately from other samples.
Results are available next working day.
This assay is available seven days a week.
Packaging
The packaging/preparation of samples for delivery to the laboratory are required to be in adherence to all national regulations for the safe transport of biological materials. HSE guidance can be reviewed HERE.
There are specific packaging instructions and labelling requirements requiring triple packaging including:
- Primary leak-proof container – tube or vial containing the sample.
- Secondary watertight container, with absorbent material, intended to protect the primary container.
- Outer container protects the secondary container.
- Patient Request forms must be placed between the secondary container and the outer shipping container.
Further information on the packaging/preparation of samples for delivery to the laboratory is contained within the Enfer Medical Laboratory User Manual which clients are provided with.
Storage & Stability
Specimens must be tested within 7 days of collection and stored at 2-8°C.
Samples
In addition to the packaging of samples, the transport/delivery of clinical samples to the laboratory is required to be in adherence to all national regulations for the safe transport of biological materials. Enfer Medical provides a fully compliant logistics service, aligned with clients’ testing requirements.
Prompt transport of specimens:
To ensure prompt testing of samples and release of results within the published test turnaround times, samples should arrive to the laboratory by 18:00. Test turnaround time is measured from receipt of the sample at the laboratory until the time the authorised results are reported to users.
of Samples
In rare cases specimens may not be suitable for testing on arrival to the laboratory. In that case the sample will be rejected at the receipt stage and the service user will be notified immediately and an explanation as to why the sample could not be processed will be provided. Reasons why samples cannot be processed include but are not limited to:
- Samples received beyond the stability limits and/or not at the correct temperature indicated for each test.
- Incorrect sample type received.
- Leaking samples, sample not received or sample insufficient for analysis as stated below within sample requirements.
- Non-compliant samples or request forms i.e. those missing sample date information, missing sample test request and/or missing sample site/type information.
- Samples received without the necessary patient identifiers.
Our Services
Quantitative results for Amylase are reported in numeric value in U/L. Please contact us for more information on the reference ranges used at Enfer Medical.
Critical results are communicated in accordance with the Communication of critical results for patients in the community- national laboratory handbook CSP041/2019
Accessing
Your Results
Following receipt at the Laboratory, results should be available on the next working day and will be reported to the referring clinician via the Enfer Medical Client Portal or in a format agreed with clients.
Established clients can login to the portal using the link above.