Digestive Disorders Health Center

Results continued...

The normal values listed here-called a reference range-are just a guide. These ranges vary from lab to lab, and your lab may have a different range for what’s normal. Your lab report should contain the range your lab uses. Also, your doctor will evaluate your results based on your health and other factors. This means that a value that falls outside the normal values listed here may still be normal for you or your lab.

High values

A high lipase level may be caused by:

• Diseases of the pancreas, such as pancreatitis or cancer of the pancreas.
• Problems with the gallbladder, such as gallstones and inflammation (cholecystitis).
• Chronic kidney disease.
• Problems with the intestines, such as bowel blockage (obstruction) or tissue death (infarction).
• Infection, inflammation, or cancer of a salivary gland.
• Peptic ulcer disease.
• Primary biliary cirrhosis.
• Alcohol or drug abuse.

What Affects the Test

Reasons you may not be able to have the test or why the results may not be helpful include:

• Medicines, such as anticoagulants, cholinergics, and opiates.
• Diseases such as chronic kidney disease and high cholesterol.
• Being pregnant.
• Having an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatogram (ERCP) test before the lipase test.

What To Think About

• You can have a high lipase level even when you do not have any problems with your pancreas.
• A test for amylase, another enzyme produced by the pancreas, is often done at the same time as a test for lipase. Measuring both amylase and lipase sometimes can help determine the cause of a high amylase level. For more information, see the topic Amylase.
• The lipase test is more accurate than the amylase test for diagnosing pancreatitis.
• Other blood tests that may be done at the same time as a test for lipase include calcium, glucose, phosphorus, triglycerides, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and creatinine. For more information, see the topics Calcium in Blood, Blood Glucose, Alanine Aminotransferase, Blood Urea Nitrogen, and Creatinine and Creatinine Clearance.