A 45-Year-Old Man Comes to the Emergency Department Due to Sudden-Onset

question 408

Multiple Choice

A 45-year-old man comes to the emergency department due to sudden-onset vomiting and severe upper abdominal pain that radiates to his back.  The patient's total bilirubin is 0.9 mg/dL, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) is 98 U/L, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is 32 U/L, and alkaline phosphatase is 98 U/L.  Serum lipase is markedly increased.  Abdominal ultrasound reveals a normal gallbladder and common bile duct.  The diagnosis of acute pancreatitis is made, and a specific etiology is established.  Which of the following additional laboratory findings is most specific for the underlying cause of this patient's pancreatitis?

• A)Mean corpuscular volume of 108 fL
• B)Serum calcium level of 8 mg/dL
• C)Serum glucose level of 180 mg/dL
• D)Serum sodium level of 150 mEq/L
• E)White blood cell count of 22,000/mm ³

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Definitions:

Standard Error

A statistical concept that assesses how accurately a sample distribution reflects a population, utilizing standard deviation for this purpose.

Regression Analysis

A statistical method for modeling the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables.

Linear Parameters

The coefficients in linear models that represent the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable.

Normal Distribution

A probability distribution that is symmetric about the mean, showing that data near the mean are more frequent in occurrence than data far from the mean.