Clinical update: management of acute pancreatitis

Alcohol use disorder and the gut

Acute and chronic gastrointestinal problems are common in the setting of excessive alcohol use, and excessive alcohol use is associated with injury to all parts of the gastrointestinal tract. There is mounting evidence of gastrointestinal injury and increased cancer risk even from moderate alcohol consumption. The major causes of alcohol-related morbidity and mortality within the gastrointestinal system are liver disease, pancreatitis and gastrointestinal cancer. Other alcohol-related intestinal dysfunction is common but not life-threatening, leading to diarrhoea, malabsorption and nutritional deficiencies. This review describes non-neoplastic and neoplastic alcohol-related disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, omitting the liver, which has been reviewed elsewhere.

Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Acute Necrotizing Pancreatitis

Objective:

To review the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in acute necrotizing pancreatitis.

Background:

Acute necrotizing pancreatitis is a complication that occurs in a minority of patients with acute pancreatitis, but has a high incidence of morbidity and mortality. Surgery and supportive care are important in the management of this disease. However, the role of antibiotic prophylaxis has been debated for decades.

Data Sources:

English-language clinical studies and review articles involving human subjects and appropriate in vitro data were located through a literature search (MEDLINE, January 1966-July 1998).

Study Selection and Data Extraction:

Relevant studies describing the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in acute necrotizing pancreatitis were reviewed.

Data Synthesis:

Earlier studies of antibiotic prophylaxis in patients with acute necrotizing pancreatitis did not show any benefit compared with placebo. Newer studies have shown a decrease in mortality and morbidity when antibiotic prophylaxis is given to patients with severe necrotizing pancreatitis. Conflicting results leave many questions unanswered, such as the effect of antibiotic use in resistance patterns, which antibiotic to use, duration of therapy, and cost-effectiveness of this strategy.

Conclusions:

With the available data, it is adequate to recommend that patients with at least 30% necrosis of the pancreas receive antibiotics to prevent infectious complications and to decrease potential mortality. Use of imipenem/cilastatin is supported by the largest prospective trial to date; however, the drug was compared with no treatment. Cefuroxime is the only drug shown to decrease mortality and should be considered an alternative that may be more cost-effective than therapy with imipenem/cilastatin. A comparison trial is needed before further recommendations are given.

Alcohol-induced pancreatic injury

Alcoholic pancreatitis is a major complication of alcohol abuse. Until recently, it was generally accepted that alcoholic pancreatitis was a chronic disease from the outset. However, evidence is now emerging in support of the 'necrosis-fibrosis' hypothesis that alcoholic pancreatitis begins as an acute process and that repeated episodes of acute injury lead to the changes of chronic pancreatitis (acinar atrophy and fibrosis) resulting in exocrine and endocrine dysfunction. The treatment of acute pancreatitis follows the regimen of bed rest, nasogastric suction, analgesia and intravenous support. The role of additional therapeutic measures such as prophylactic antibiotics, antioxidants and enteral nutrition in severe cases has not yet been precisely defined. The treatment of chronic pancreatitis involves attention to its three cardinal features: pain, maldigestion and diabetes. With respect to the pathogenesis of alcoholic pancreatitis, the focus of research over the past 30 years has shifted from the sphincter of Oddi and ductular abnormalities to the acinar cell itself. It has now been established that the acinar cell is capable of metabolizing alcohol and that direct toxic effects of alcohol and/or its metabolites on acinar cells may predispose the gland to injury in the presence of an appropriate trigger factor. A significant recent development relates to the characterization of pancreatic stellate cells, increasingly implicated in alcoholic pancreatic fibrosis. This chapter summarizes the natural history, clinical features, current trends in treatment as well as recent advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis of alcoholic pancreatitis.

Update on the management of acute severe pancreatitis

Acute severe pancreatitis is an aggressive disease with a mortality rate of up to 30 percent. In recent years therapy has shifted away from early surgery to intensive medical care. This article focuses on several issues of the management of acute severe pancreatitis emphasising evidence from recent clinical trials and recommendations from recent consensus conferences. Since a correct assessment of the severity of the disease is mandatory as early as possible in the treatment, several multiple scoring factor systems and individual risk factors are explained. The indications and the optimal timing of ERCP are discussed. Prophylactic administration of antibiotics, intravenously or by means of a selective digestive decontamination scheme, seems to be beneficial in decreasing morbidity but not mortality. Adequate nutritional support, preferably achieved by enteral feeding, is an important component in the supportive therapy. Protease inhibitors and anti-secretory drugs have not proven to be of benefit in improving outcome. Immunomodulating substances like platelet activating antagonists are promising but further studies are necessary to confirm the results of the early studies. Finally, indications for surgery are discussed.