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Blood Test Tracker

Amylase, Total

An enzyme made mostly by the pancreas and salivary glands. It is checked in the blood when belly pain or other symptoms may involve the pancreas.

AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert reviewAlso called AMYLOINC 1798-8

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What it is

Amylase is an enzyme that helps break down starches in food. Most of it is made by the pancreas and the glands that make saliva, and small amounts come from other parts of the body. A blood test measures how much amylase has reached your bloodstream. When the pancreas is inflamed or blocked, it can release extra amylase into the blood.

Why it matters

Doctors mostly order amylase when someone has belly pain, to see whether the pancreas could be involved. It is not very specific, though. Salivary glands, kidneys and some medicines can also raise it, and it can be normal even when the pancreas is inflamed. For this reason lipase is often preferred, and the two tests are sometimes ordered together.

If it’s low

A low amylase is uncommon and usually does not mean much on its own. When it is real, it can reflect long-standing damage to the pancreas or another health condition. Your clinician can tell you whether it fits the rest of your results.

Common causes

  • A very fatty (high triglyceride) blood sample, which can make some methods read falsely low
  • Long-lasting pancreas damage, such as from chronic pancreatitis or cystic fibrosis
  • Liver disease
  • Pre-eclampsia, a high blood pressure condition of pregnancy

What can help

  • Ask your clinician whether the result fits your health history

If it’s high

A result above your lab's range is a reason to look further, not an answer on its own. Many things can raise amylase, and several are harmless. When the pancreas is the cause, the number usually rises within hours and falls back within a few days. Your clinician will read it together with your symptoms, a lipase test and sometimes imaging.

Common causes

  • Macroamylase, where amylase is attached to a large blood protein. It can occur in healthy people and gives a high blood level with a low or normal urine level
  • Reduced kidney function, because the kidneys clear amylase from the blood
  • Salivary gland problems, such as a blocked duct or an infection like mumps
  • Some medicines, including opioid pain medicines, thiazide diuretics, aspirin and birth control pills
  • Digestive tract problems, such as a blocked bowel, gallbladder inflammation or a perforated ulcer
  • Inflammation, blockage or growths in the pancreas, including acute pancreatitis

What can help

  • Ask your clinician whether a medicine or supplement you take could explain the result
  • Ask whether a lipase test or a repeat test would help sort out the cause
  • Avoid alcohol before the test if your clinician asks you to

Usual ranges

What labs print as the reference range, by who was tested. Ranges differ a little between labs, so the range on your own report is the one your result is judged against.

For adults: 31–110 U/L. Source: Labcorp, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia (National Library of Medicine).

What can affect your result

  • Age: infants and young children have lower ranges, and Mayo and Labcorp print separate limits for them
  • Kidney function: reduced clearance can raise amylase, and Labcorp notes this is usually no more than about three times the upper limit
  • Source: blood amylase is a mix of pancreatic and salivary types, so salivary gland problems can raise the total
  • Alcohol and some medicines in the day before the test
  • Method: upper limits range from about 100 to 140 U/L between Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Labcorp and MedlinePlus
  • Alcohol in the 24 hours before the test can affect the result, and MedlinePlus advises avoiding it.
  • Some medicines can raise amylase, including opioid pain medicines, thiazide diuretics, birth control pills, aspirin and methyldopa. Do not stop any medicine unless your clinician tells you to.
  • Very high triglycerides in the blood sample can make some amylase methods read falsely low.

In acute pancreatitis, amylase usually rises within a few hours of symptoms starting and returns to normal in about 3 to 5 days.

When to talk to a clinician

Get urgent medical care for severe belly pain that does not ease or spreads to your back, especially with repeated vomiting, fever, a fast heartbeat or yellowing of the skin or eyes. In guidelines for acute pancreatitis, amylase or lipase above three times the top of the lab's range is one of the criteria, along with typical pain or imaging. A result that high is worth discussing with a clinician promptly.

Questions you could ask

  • Why was this test ordered, and which other results should I look at with it?
  • Could a medicine, my kidney function or my salivary glands explain this result?
  • Would a lipase test or a repeat test help?
  • Does this low result fit my health history, or does it need any follow-up?

Questions people ask

Does a high amylase mean I have pancreatitis?

Not by itself. Salivary glands, kidneys, some medicines and a harmless protein complex called macroamylase can all raise amylase. How high it is matters, and so do your symptoms and other tests. Your clinician can put the number in context.

Why is lipase often ordered along with amylase?

Lipase is more specific to the pancreas and stays raised longer than amylase, so it is less likely to be missed. Guidelines for acute pancreatitis prefer lipase for this reason.

Why does my lab's range look different from other sources?

Labs use different methods and reference groups. Mayo Clinic Laboratories lists 28–100 U/L for adults, Labcorp 31–110 U/L and MedlinePlus 40–140 U/L. Use the range printed on your own report.

Show the science and sources

Units

  • 1 U/L = 1 U/L
  • 1 U/L = 0.01667 µkat/L

Open the Amylase unit converter

Is a change real?

Amylase naturally varies about 6.8% from test to test in the same healthy person. Between two results from the same lab, a change of roughly 19% or more is unlikely to be day-to-day noise or lab variation (95% reference change value). Source: The European Biological Variation Study (EuBIVAS): a summary report.

For clinicians and researchers

Blood amylase is a mix of pancreatic (P-type) and salivary (S-type) isoenzymes. Mayo Clinic Laboratories reports adult limits of 28–100 U/L for total amylase, 13–53 U/L for the pancreatic type and up to 86 U/L for the salivary type, which it calculates as total minus pancreatic. Amylase is cleared by the kidneys. Labcorp notes that renal failure can raise it one to two times the upper limit, usually no more than three times, with a normal or low urine level. Macroamylase is amylase bound to a large protein such as an immunoglobulin. It gives high serum amylase with low or normal urine amylase and occurs in normal people as well. In the 2024 ACG guideline, acute pancreatitis is established by two of three features: typical abdominal pain, serum amylase and/or lipase above three times the upper limit of normal, and characteristic imaging. Amylase rises within hours and returns to normal in 3 to 5 days, can be normal on arrival in as many as one in five patients, and can be normal in alcohol-related and hypertriglyceridemia-related pancreatitis. The guideline therefore prefers lipase and says amylase alone cannot be relied on. Labcorp adds that lipemic serum can contain inhibitors that falsely lower results, and that levels more than 25 times the upper limit are often found when tumors make amylase.

LOINC 1798-8 (primary). Specimen: serum-or-plasma.

Sources

  1. Amylase (test 001396), Labcorp
  2. Amylase, Isoenzymes, Serum (test AMISO), reference values for total, pancreatic and salivary amylase, Mayo Clinic Laboratories
  3. Amylase - blood, MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia (National Library of Medicine)
  4. Amylase Test, MedlinePlus Medical Tests (National Library of Medicine)
  5. American College of Gastroenterology Guidelines: Management of Acute Pancreatitis, American Journal of Gastroenterology (2024)

AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert review. Last reviewed 2026-10-03. How we build and check these pages.

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