Objective To investigate the role of intestinal fatty acid binding protein (IFABP) in early diagnosis of acute traumatic intestinal rupture. Methods The patients with suspected acute traumatic intestinal rupture admitted in our emergency department from July 2010 to June 2011 were involved in the study.Their blood samples were taken on admission,1,2,3,4,6,8,12,16,24 and 48 hours after admission.All the patients were given closely medical observation and therapy,and were followed up in aspects of their clinical signs and imageology according to the present diagnosis and treatment routine.Surgical procedures would be carried out as soon as the diagnosis of intestinal rupture was confirmed and the duration between the admission and the final diagnosis was recorded.All the blood samples were determined for the IFABP concentration by means of ELISA.According to the final diagnosis results,the patients were divided into the intestinal rupture group and non-intestinal rupture group.The changes of IFABP concentration and its concentration difference between the two groups at different time points were compared. Results The study involved 33 patients,including 11 patients with confirmed intestinal rupture (intestinal rapture group) and 22 without intestinal rupture (non-intestinal rupture group).The average duration from hospitalization to the final diagnosis in the intestinal rapture group was (7.0 ±2.0) hours.At all the given time points,the IFABP concentration in the intestinal rupture group was significantly higher than that in the non-intestinal rupture group (P ＜ 0.05 ).The IFABP concentration in the intestinal rupture group was ascended on admission,reached the peak one hour later and maintained the level till the surgery,while the IFABP concentration was relatively stable in the non-intestinal rupture group within 24 hours after admission. Conclusion IFABP is the index for early diagnosis of acute traumatic intestinal rupture.