Overnight fasting before blood collection is required.
EDTA 4 mL Adult EDTA Blood (Always Required). Serum and Fluoride are unacceptable.
Diagnostic Use and Interpretation:
Pancreatic polypeptide (PP) secreting tumour (PPoma) is rare. Other than causing local mechanical effect, it is usually clinically silent and considered non-functional. On the other hand, 75% of all pancreatic endocrine tumours have raised circulating PP. However, the diagnostic accuracy of raised PP for endocrine secreting tumour is not great, even though some tumours may show exaggerated PP response to secretin stimulation. Raised PP can also be observed in 29-50% of carcinoid syndromes. PP is not raised in adenocarcinoma of pancreas.
Not every patient with raised PP levels has a tumour. Raised PP also occurs as part of the MEN-1 syndrome and may reflect nesidioblastosis of PP cells or multiple adenomata. PP is also raised in chronic renal failure.
In chronic pancreatitis, a subnormal rise in PP after intravenous secretin stimulation (peak over basal ratio of 1mL
Transport to Canterbury Health Labs
Send either ambient or at 4 o C
Specimen Transport Instructions for Referring Laboratories:
Patient preparation/Sample collection:
The patient must have been fasting overnight
5mL EDTA
Sample preparation:
Centrifuge and separate EDTA plasma
Minimum 0.5mL required. Preferred >1mL
Transport to LabPlus
Send either ambient or at 4 o C