Journal of Bioengineering & Biomedical Science

Hyper-Homocysteinemia: A Potential Indicator of Acute Pancreatitis

Abstract

Ling-Chun Zhang , Qiao-Yan Li , Jin-Xia Zhang and Lian-Cai Wang

Objectives: Hyper-homocysteinemia, reportedly, is closely associated with some known vascular dysfunctions, thrombosis and even inflammations. However, till now rare studies were directed to the association between hyperhomocysteinemia and acute pancreatitis (AP). The illumination of this potential association is expected to benefit therapies of AP. In this regard, this study aims at digging the underlying association between hyper-homocysteinemia and AP.

Methods: In this study, 160 patients with AP were involved. The plasma levels of homocysteine of these patients were measured. The patients were divided into two groups, based on the serum homocysteine concentration. Patients with high plasma homocysteine concentrations (C>15 µmol/L) were classified as Group 1, while the rest with normal plasma homocysteine concentrations (5 µmol/L ≤ C ≤ 15 µmol/L) were identified as Group 2. Then, the lipid levels for the two groups were studied to detect whether there existed a synergistic effect of hyper-homocysteinemia and hypertriglyceride on AP.

Results: Almost half (46.9%) of the patients with AP were found to bear hyper-homocysteinemia in this study. However, patients in Group 1 were found to have lower triglyceride and total cholesterol levels than those in Group 2, with P=0.038 and P=0.046 respectively. In addition, more patients in Group 2 had hyper-triglyceride and hyper-total cholesterol than those in Group 1, though the differences were not significantly observed.

Conclusions: In conclusion, these studies showed that hyper-homocysteinemia may be a very important indicator of a high risk of AP. So, more attention should be paid to hyper-homocysteinemia in the progress of AP.