Abdominal paracentesis drainage improves tolerance of enteral nutrition in acute pancreatitis: a randomized controlled trial

Early short-term abdominal paracentesis drainage in moderately severe and severe acute pancreatitis with pelvic ascites

BACKGROUND

We sought to evaluate the effect of early short-term abdominal paracentesis drainage (APD) in moderately severe and severe acute pancreatitis (MSAP/SAP) with pelvic ascites.

METHODS

A total of 135 MSAP/SAP patients with early pelvic ascites were divided into the Short-term APD group (57 patients) and the Non-APD group (78 patients). The effects, complications, and prognosis of short-term APD patients were evaluated.

RESULTS

The baseline characteristics in the two groups were similar. The target days of intra-abdominal hypertension relief, half-dose enteral nutrition, duration of mechanical ventilation, length of intensive care unit stay (in days) and total hospitalization (also in days) were all lower in the Short-term APD group than in the Non-APD group (P = 0.002, 0.009, 0.004, 0.006 and 0.019), while the white blood cell count and serum C-reaction protein level decreased significantly more quickly (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05), and the prevalence of intra-abdominal infection was also significantly lower (P = 0.014) in the former than the latter. No complications occurred in early APD patients, and the microbial cultures of pelvic ascites were all negative. In addition, patients with early APD presented fewer cases of residual wall-off necrosis or fluid collection (P = 0.008) at discharge and had a lower incidence of rehospitalization and percutaneous catheter drainage and/or necrosectomy (P = 0.017 and 0.009).

CONCLUSIONS

For MSAP/SAP patients with pelvic ascites, the early short-term APD is feasible and safe to perform, and it can decrease clinical symptoms, reduce intra-abdominal infection and shorten the hospital stay. It may also reduce the incidence of rehospitalization and surgical intervention.

[Treatment of acute pancreatitis from the viewpoint of surgery]

The role of surgery in the treatment of acute pancreatitis has clearly changed over the years. In the 1990s a clear reduction in hospital mortality was achieved through surgery, whereas the value of surgery (open, in general) has slipped into the background due to the improvement in intensive care medicine in general and the development of minimally invasive treatment options. Nowadays, patients with acute pancreatitis are only operated on after exhaustion of intensive medical care treatment and minimally invasive interventions or when complications occur that cannot be treated in any other way (e.g. hollow organ perforation). This article provides an overview of the currently used treatment measures.

Abdominal paracentesis drainage attenuates intestinal mucosal barrier damage through macrophage polarization in severe acute pancreatitis

Abdominal paracentesis drainage (APD), as an effective treatment of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in clinical settings, can ameliorate intestinal barrier damage and the overall severity of SAP. However, the mechanism underlying therapeutic effects of APD on damaged intestinal mucosal barrier during SAP is still unclear. Here, SAP was induced by injecting 5% Na-taurocholate retrograde into the biliopancreatic duct of rats to confirm the benefits of APD on enteral injury of SAP and further explore the possible mechanism. Abdominal catheter was placed after SAP was induced in APD group. As control group, the sham group received no operation except abdominal opening and closure. By comparing changes among control group, sham group, and APD group, APD treatment obviously lowered the intestinal damage and reduced the permeation of intestinal mucosal barrier, which was evidenced by intestinal H&E staining, enteral expression of tight junction proteins, intestinal apoptosis measurement and detection of serum diamine oxidase, intestinal fatty acid binding protein and D-lactic acid. Furthermore, we found that APD polarized intestinal macrophages toward M2 phenotype by the determination of immunofluorescence and western blotting, and this accounts for the benefits of APD for intestinal injury in SAP. Importantly, the protective effect against intestinal injury by APD treatment was mediated through the inhibited ASK1/JNK pathway. In summary, APD improved the intestinal mucosal barrier damage in rats with SAP through an increasing portion of M2 phenotype macrophages in intestine via inhibiting ASK1/JNK pathway.

Efficacy and safety of abdominal paracentesis drainage on patients with acute pancreatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of abdominal paracentesis drainage (APD) in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) when compared with conventional 'step-up' strategy based on percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD).

DESIGN

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

METHODS

PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE (OVID), China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang Database were electronically searched to collect cohort studies and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) from inception to 25 July 2020. Studies related to comparing APD with conventional 'step-up' strategy based on PCD were included.

OUTCOMES

The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. The secondary outcomes were the rate of organ dysfunction, infectious complications, hospitalisation expenses and length of hospital stay.

RESULTS

Five cohort studies and three RCTs were included in the analysis. Compared with the conventional 'step-up' method, pooled results suggested APD significantly decreased all-cause mortality during hospitalisation (cohort studies: OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.89 and p=0.02), length of hospital stay (cohort studies: standard mean difference (SMD) -0.31, 95% CI -0.53 to -0.10 and p=0.005; RCTs: SMD -0.45, 95% CI -0.64 to -0.26 and p<0.001) and hospitalisation expenses (cohort studies: SMD -2.49, 95% CI -4.46 to -0.51 and p<0.001; RCTs: SMD -0.67, 95% CI -0.89 to -0.44 and p<0.001). There was no evidence to prove that APD was associated with a higher incidence of infectious complications. However, the incidence of organ dysfunction between cohort studies and RCTs subgroup slightly differed (cohort studies: OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.34 to 1.28 and p=0.22; RCTs: OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.98 and p=0.04).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that early application of APD in patients with AP is associated with reduced all-cause mortality, expenses during hospitalisation and the length of stay compared with the 'step-up' strategy without significantly increasing the risk of infectious complications. These results must be interpreted with caution because of the limited number of included studies as well as a larger dependence on observational trials.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42020168537.

Nutritional Support in Patients with Severe Acute Pancreatitis-Current Standards

Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) leads to numerous inflammatory and nutritional disturbances. All SAP patients are at a high nutritional risk. It has been proven that proper nutrition significantly reduces mortality rate and the incidence of the infectious complications in SAP patients. According to the literature, early (started within 24-48 h) enteral nutrition (EN) is optimal in most patients. EN protects gut barrier function because it decreases gastrointestinal dysmotility secondary to pancreatic inflammation. Currently, the role of parenteral nutrition (PN) in SAP patients is limited to patients in whom EN is not possible or contraindicated. Early versus delayed EN, nasogastric versus nasojejunal tube for EN, EN versus PN in SAP patients and the role of immunonutrition (IN) in SAP patients are discussed in this review.

Abdominal paracentesis drainage attenuates intestinal inflammation in rats with severe acute pancreatitis by inhibiting the HMGB1-mediated TLR4 signaling pathway

BACKGROUND

Our previous studies confirmed that abdominal paracentesis drainage (APD) attenuates intestinal mucosal injury in rats with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP), and improves administration of enteral nutrition in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP). However, the underlying mechanisms of the beneficial effects of APD remain poorly understood.

AIM

To evaluate the effect of APD on intestinal inflammation and accompanying apoptosis induced by SAP in rats, and its potential mechanisms.

METHODS

SAP was induced in male adult Sprague-Dawley rats by 5% sodium taurocholate. Mild AP was induced by intraperitoneal injections of cerulein (20 μg/kg body weight, six consecutive injections). Following SAP induction, a drainage tube connected to a vacuum ball was placed into the lower right abdomen of the rats to build APD. Morphological changes, serum inflammatory mediators, serum and ascites high mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1), intestinal barrier function indices, apoptosis and associated proteins, and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling molecules in intestinal tissue were assessed.

RESULTS

APD significantly alleviated intestinal mucosal injury induced by SAP, as demonstrated by decreased pathological scores, serum levels of D-lactate, diamine oxidase and endotoxin. APD reduced intestinal inflammation and accompanying apoptosis of mucosal cells, and normalized the expression of apoptosis-associated proteins in intestinal tissues. APD significantly suppressed activation of the intestinal TLR4 signaling pathway mediated by HMGB1, thus exerting protective effects against SAP-associated intestinal injury.

CONCLUSION

APD improved intestinal barrier function, intestinal inflammatory response and accompanying mucosal cell apoptosis in SAP rats. The beneficial effects are potentially due to inhibition of HMGB1-mediated TLR4 signaling.

Impact of Intravenous Fluids and Enteral Nutrition on the Severity of Gastrointestinal Dysfunction: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Introduction

Gastrointestinal dysfunction (GDF) is one of the primary causes of morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. Intensive care interventions, such as intravenous fluids and enteral feeding, can exacerbate GDF. There exists a paucity of high-quality literature on the interaction between these two modalities (intravenous fluids and enteral feeding) as a combined therapy on its impact on GDF.

Aim

To review the impact of intravenous fluids and enteral nutrition individually on determinants of gut function and implications in clinical practice.

Methods

Randomized controlled trials on intravenous fluids and enteral feeding on GDF were identified by a comprehensive database search of MEDLINE and EMBASE. Extraction of data was conducted for study characteristics, provision of fluids or feeding in both groups and quality of studies was assessed using the Cochrane criteria. A random-effects model was applied to estimate the impact of these interventions across the spectrum of GDF severity.

Results

Restricted/ goal-directed intravenous fluid therapy is likely to reduce ‘mild’ GDF such as vomiting (p = 0.03) compared to a standard/ liberal intravenous fluid regime. Enterally fed patients experienced increased episodes of vomiting (p = <0.01) but were less likely to develop an anastomotic leak (p = 0.03) and peritonitis (p = 0.03) compared to parenterally fed patients. Vomiting (p = <0.01) and anastomotic leak (p = 0.04) were significantly lower in the early enteral feeding group.

Conclusions

There is less emphasis on the combined approach of intravenous fluid resuscitation and enteral feeding in critically ill patients. Conservative fluid resuscitation and aggressive enteral feeding are presumably key factors contributing to severe life-threatening GDF. Future trials should evaluate the impact of cross-interaction between conservative and aggressive modes of these two interventions on the severity of GDF.

Abdominal paracentesis drainage ameliorates myocardial injury in severe experimental pancreatitis rats through suppressing oxidative stress

BACKGROUND

Abdominal paracentesis drainage (APD) is a safe and effective strategy for severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) patients. However, the effects of APD treatment on SAP-associated cardiac injury remain unknown.

AIM

To investigate the protective effects of APD on SAP-associated cardiac injury and the underlying mechanisms.

METHODS

SAP was induced by 5% sodium taurocholate retrograde injection in Sprague-Dawley rats. APD was performed by inserting a drainage tube with a vacuum ball into the lower right abdomen of the rats immediately after SAP induction. Morphological staining, serum amylase and inflammatory mediators, serum and ascites high mobility group box (HMGB) 1, cardiac-related enzymes indexes and cardiac function, oxidative stress markers and apoptosis and associated proteins were assessed in the myocardium in SAP rats. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase activity and mRNA and protein expression were also examined.

RESULTS

APD treatment improved cardiac morphological changes, inhibited cardiac dysfunction, decreased cardiac enzymes and reduced cardiomyocyte apoptosis, proapoptotic Bax and cleaved caspase-3 protein levels. APD significantly decreased serum levels of HMGB1, inhibited nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase expression and ultimately alleviated cardiac oxidative injury. Furthermore, the activation of cardiac nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase by pancreatitis-associated ascitic fluid intraperitoneal injection was effectively inhibited by adding anti-HMGB1 neutralizing antibody in rats with mild acute pancreatitis.

CONCLUSION

APD treatment could exert cardioprotective effects on SAP-associated cardiac injury through suppressing HMGB1-mediated oxidative stress, which may be a novel mechanism behind the effectiveness of APD on SAP.

Ascites in acute pancreatitis: not a silent bystander

BACKGROUND & AIM

Ascites in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) is understudied although recent literature hints at its evident role in the final outcome. This study was planned to study the characteristics of ascites in patients of AP and its effect on the disease course and outcome.

METHODS

Consecutive patients of AP were studied and patients with or without ascites were evaluated for the baseline parameters and severity assessment. Ascites was quantified and fluid analyzed for its characteristics. Intraabdominal pressure (IAP) was monitored. The various outcome parameters were compared between the two groups of patients with and without ascites.

RESULTS

Of the cohort of 213 patients, 82 (38.5%) developed ascites. Ascites group had significantly higher rates of organ failure (p = 0.001), necrosis (p=<0.001) and higher severity assessment scores. The ascites group had significantly longer hospital and ICU stay and higher ventilator days compared to the non-ascites group. Mortality was also higher in the ascites group (34.1% vs 8.45; p = 0.001). Majority of patients with ascites had moderate to gross ascites (75.6%), low serum ascites albumin gradient (87.8%) with low amylase levels (71.9%). Sub-group analysis in ascites group showed that patients with fatal outcome had higher rates of moderate to gross ascites, higher baseline IAP and lower reduction in IAP after 48 h. Moderate to gross ascites and grades of intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) were significant predictors of mortality (AUC - 0.76).

CONCLUSION

AP patients with ascites have a more severe disease with poorer outcome. Higher degrees of ascites and IAH grades are significant predictors of mortality.