Availability of Plasma Pancreatic Polypeptide Measurement in Diagnosis of Chronic Pancreatitis

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Abstract
Plasma pancreatic polypeptide (PP), a newly recognized pancreatic hormone, was studied in healthy subjects and patients with chronic pancreatitis. After an oral load of 50 g of meat extract, the plasma concentration of PP showed a rapid 4-fold rise at 20 min in healthy controls. In contrast, the plasma PP level rose only 1.8-fold in patients with chronic pancreatitis. This difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The increase rate of the PP level during the test in each subject correlated significantly (P < 0.01) with total amylase output and maximal amylase concentration measured by the pancreozymin-secretin test. The measurement of the plasma PP level may be a useful tool to diagnose chronic pancreatitis.