Comparison of the Accuracy of Modified CT Severity Index Score and Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Assessing the Severity of Acute Pancreatitis

NLR48 is Better Than CRP, and mCTSI, and Similar to BISAP and SOFA Scores for Mortality Prediction in Acute Pancreatitis: A Comparison of 6 Scores

Introduction

The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been suggested as a reliable marker for predicting inflammation progression and severity of acute pancreatitis, although the role of the NLR stratified by etiology is still insufficiently studied. However, the NLR's role in mortality prediction was poorly evaluated in the literature.

Patients and Methods

We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional study to analyze the role of NLR0 (at admission) and NLR48 (at 48 hours) in acute pancreatitis as compared with CRP, BISAP, SOFA, and modified CTSI (mCTSI) for the prediction of mortality and severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in patients admitted into the Emergency Clinical County Hospital of Craiova during 48 months. The primary assessed outcomes were the rate of in-hospital mortality, the rate of persistent organ failure, and ICU admissions. We analyzed mortality prediction for all acute pancreatitis, for biliary, alcoholic, and hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis, for severe forms, and for patients admitted to the ICU.

Results

A total of 725 patients were selected; 42.4% had biliary acute pancreatitis, 27.7% had alcoholic acute pancreatitis, and 8.7% had hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis. A total of 13.6% had POF during admission. The AUC for NLR48 in predicting mortality risk and SAP was 0.81 and 0.785, superior to NLR0, CRP48, and mCTSI but inferior to BISAP and SOFA scores. The NLR48/NLR0 ratio did not add significantly to the accuracy. NLR0 and NLR48 performed poorly for mortality prediction in severe forms and in patients admitted to the ICU. NLR48 has good accuracy in our study for predicting death risk in biliary and alcoholic acute pancreatitis but not in hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis.

Conclusion

NLR48 was a good indicator in predicting mortality risk and severe forms in all patients with acute pancreatitis, but not of death in SAP and in patients admitted to ICU, with good accuracy for predicting death risk in biliary and alcoholic acute pancreatitis but not in hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis.

Predictive value of the C-reactive protein/albumin ratio in severity and prognosis of acute pancreatitis

Aim

To investigate the predictive value of C-reactive protein (CRP) to serum albumin (ALB) ratio in the severity and prognosis of acute pancreatitis (AP), and compare the predictive value of the CRP/ALB ratio with the Ranson score, modified computed tomography severity index (MCTSI) score, and Bedside Index of Severity in Acute Pancreatitis (BISAP) score.

Methods

This cohort study retrospectively analyzed clinical data of AP patients from August 2018 to August 2020 in our hospital. Logistic regression analysis was utilized to determine the effects of CRP/ALB ratio, Ranson, MCTSI, and BISAP score on severe AP (SAP), pancreatic necrosis, organ failure, and death. The predictive values of CRP/ALB ratio, Ranson, MCTSI, and BISAP score were examined with the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. DeLong test was used to compare the AUCs between CRP/ALB ratio, Ranson, MCTSI, and BISAP score.

Results

Totally, 284 patients were included in this study, of which 35 AP patients (12.32%) developed SAP, 29 (10.21%) organ failure, 30 (10.56%) pancreatic necrosis and 11 (3.87%) died. The result revealed that CRP/ALB ratio on day 2 was associated with SAP [odds ratio (OR): 1.74, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.32 to 2.29], death (OR: 1.73, 95%CI: 1.24 to 2.41), pancreatic necrosis (OR: 1.28, 95%CI: 1.08 to 1.50), and organ failure (OR: 1.43, 95%CI: 1.18 to 1.73) in AP patients. Similarly, CRP/ALB on day 3 was related to a higher risk of SAP (OR: 1.50, 95%CI: 1.24 to 1.81), death (OR: 1.8, 95%CI: 1.34 to 2.65), pancreatic necrosis (OR: 1.22, 95%CI: 1.04 to 1.42), and organ failure (OR: 1.21, 95%CI: 1.04 to 1.41). The predictive value of CRP/ALB ratio for pancreatic necrosis was lower than that of MCTSI, for organ failure was lower than that of Ranson and BISAP, and for death was higher than that of MCTSI.

Conclusion

The CRP/ALB ratio may be a novel but promising, easily measurable, reproducible, non-invasive prognostic score that can be used to predict SAP, death, pancreatic necrosis, and organ failure in AP patients, which can be a supplement of Ranson, MCTSI, and BISAP scores.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with serum procalcitonin for evaluating therapeutic efficacy for acute pancreatitis

BACKGROUND

Ultrasound has the advantages of non-invasiveness and simplicity, and plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of acute pancreatitis. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) can analyze the pancreatic microcirculation blood perfusion and evaluate its ischemic necrosis status, providing hemodynamic information for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

AIM

To evaluate the clinical value of CEUS with serum procalcitonin (PCT) in evaluating the condition of and the curative effect in acute pancreatitis (AP), as well as its correlation with CT severity index (CTSI).

METHODS

Sixty-three patients with AP treated at our hospital were selected as the research subjects, including 38 patients with mild AP (mild AP group) and 25 with severe AP (severe AP group). Before and after treatment, serum PCT level was measured, pancreatic CEUS and abdominal multi-slice spiral CT were performed, and ultrasound severity index (USSI) and CTSI were recorded. The feasibility of evaluating the curative effect by CEUS combined with PCT was analyzed.

RESULTS

Thirty-seven patients with mild AP and 26 with severe AP were diagnosed by CEUS, which had a sensitivity of 92.00% (23/25), specificity of 92.11% (35/38), and accuracy of 92.06% (58/63). Serum PCT level, USSI, and CTSI in the severe AP group were significantly higher than those in the mild AP group (P < 0.05). There were significant differences in serum PCT level, USSI, and CTSI among different treatment outcome groups (P < 0.05). Serum PCT level and USSI were positively correlated with CTSI after treatment (r = 0.803 and 0.951, respectively; P < 0.05). Serum PCT level and USSI were negatively correlated with clinical efficacy after treatment (r = -0.721 and - 0.836, respectively; P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

CEUS can effectively display the ischemic necrosis state of pancreatic tissue and accurately reflect the condition of AP. When combined with serum PCT level, CEUS can provide valuable reference for clinical comprehensive and accurate evaluation of the condition and prognosis of AP.