Hematin formation and pancreatitis.

HEMORRHAGIC PANCREATITIS is a more lethal disease than edematous pancreatitis [2, 5, 81. For prognostic and therapeutic purposes it would be useful to be able to distinguish between the two forms of pancreatitis, but present methods are inadequate. Levels of serum amylase, an index of the degree of ductal obstruction of the pancreas, depend on a functioning acinar cell [l]. Amylase and lipase levels do not reflect the presence of parenchymal necrosis unless diffuse destruction alters the capacity of the pancreas to produce amylase and lipase through a marked reduction in the number of viable acinar cells. Desoxyribonuclease I has been used as a measure of acinar cell destruction, but the method is expensive and time-consuming. Northam [7] has developed a test for detecting hemorrhagic necrosis of the pancreas based on the appearance of hematin in the serum, which is attributed to the action of