ABSTRACT
Objective To study the dynamic change and prognostic significance of serum IL-18 in acute pancreatitis,and to explore the relationship between the APACHE Ⅱ score and prognosis of. Acute pancreati-tis. Methods According to the clinical diagnosis and criteria for acute pancreatitis, 34 patients with AP were divided into severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) group( n = 12 ) and mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) group (n = 22). Sixteen normal individuals were used as the control group ( n = 16.). The serum IL-18 was detected by ELISA. Results IL-18 in the SAP group was higher than that in the MAP group. In the MAP group, there was significant positive correlation between APACHE Ⅱ and IL-18 ( r = 0.98 ,P < 0.01 ). Conclusion IL-18 plays an important role in the development of acute pancreatitis, and it may be a valuable index to predict the severity of AP.