Serum Leptin and Ghrelin Levels in Patients in the Early Stages of Acute Biliary Pancreatitis and Different Degrees of Severity

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a potentially fatal disease. In animal experiments leptin and ghrelin were shown to modulate the course of AP. The aim of the study was to estimate the relationship between the severity of acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP) and serum levels of leptin and ghrelin in nonobese patients in the first seven days of the hospitalization. Material and methods. The study included nine patients with mild ABP (MABP), eleven patients with severe ABP (SABP) and twenty healthy controls, appropriately matched age, sex and weight. Serum concentrations of leptin and ghrelin were measured in patients on the first, third, fifth, and seventh days of hospitalization using leptin and ghrelin RadioImmunoAssay (RIA) kits. Results. At admission and throughout the study the mean serum leptin concentration in SABP patients was higher than in the controls but without statistical significance. Serum ghrelin concentrations on admission were significantly lower in patients with ABP than in the controls. We observed steadily increasing serum ghrelin levels in both groups of the patients during the course of ABP. Conclusions. The results of our study do not support the role of leptin as a marker of the severity of ABP. On the other hand, rising serum ghrelin levels during the course of ABP may be a marker of recovery and an indicator of the healing process