HIPAA Notice

Test Directory

Physician Portal
Patient Portal

Amylase

Alternate Name: AMY

SAL Code:

333

CPT:

82150

Loinc:

1798-8

Turn Around Time:

1 Day

Setup:

Daily

Units:

U/L

Department:

Chemistry

Performing Laboratory:

Sherman Abrams Laboratory

Specimen Requirements:

Primary Tube:

SST

Primary Substance:

Serum

Alternate Sample Info:

Heparinized plasma

Temperature

Period

Stable Ambient:

7 Days

Stable Fridge:

30 Days

Stable Frozen:

Unacceptable

Rejection Criteria:

Improper labeling

Clinical Info:

Work-up for abdominal pain, epigastric tenderness, nausea, and vomiting or pancreatic cancer. Such findings may characterize acute pancreatitis as well as acute surgical emergencies such as gastrointestinal perforation (eg, peptic ulcer with perforation) or bowel infarct. Amylase is used in the differential diagnosis of acute or chronic pancreatitis, which may or may not in an individual be related to alcoholism.

Additional Information:

Possible causes of high serum amylase include acute pancreatitis, pancreatic pseudocyst, pancreatic ascites, pancreatic abscess, neoplasm in or adjacent to pancreas, trauma to pancreas, and common duct stones.

Possible Nonpancreatic causes of hyperamylasemia include inflammatory salivary lesions (eg, mumps), perforated peptic ulcer involving pancreas or not, intestinal obstruction and infarction, afferent loop syndrome, biliary tract disease including stones, aortic aneurysm, peritonitis, acute appendicitis, cerebral trauma, burns and traumatic shock, the postoperative state (with and without pancreatitis), diabetic ketoacidosis, and extrapancreatic carcinomas (especially of esophagus, lung, ovary).

Sample Collection:

Collect patient samples using standard phlebotomy techniques. Click here for additional collection instructions.

Test Limitations:

Normal serum amylase may occur in pancreatitis, especially relapsing and chronic pancreatitis. (Subjects in whom pseudocysts complicate chronic pancreatitis often do have elevations of the pancreatic enzymes.) .
The amylase test has poor specificity.
Serum amylase is cleared by renal excretion. Serum amylase may increase one to two times upper limit of normal in renal failure without diagnostic significance. In such cases, urine amylase is normal or low.

Test Information:

Components:

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Building 292, Suite 416
63 Flushing Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205

Twitter Linkedin Facebook