Clinical Characteristics and Prognosis of Idiopathic Acute Pancreatitis

Objective: Acute pancreatitis is a serious diagnosis with an increasing incidence in the Western world. In this study we sought to investigate the incidence of idiopathic AP and to compare clinical and prognostic characteristics of idiopathic cases with cases of AP with known etiology. Methods: In this retrospective study of adult hospitalized patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis between 2012 and 2015, a comparison was made between admissions of patients with known etiology and those for whom no cause was found. Primary outcome was defined as composite outcome of 30-day mortality and complications. Results:Among 560 admissions of 437 patients with a primary diagnosis of acute pancreatitis, the main factors identified were gallstones (51.2%) and idiopathic pancreatitis (35.9%), with alcohol ranked third at only 4.8%. Mortality rate within 30 days of hospitalization was 2.9% and within one year was 7.1%. Use of lipid-lowering, anti-hypertensive, and anti-diabetic medications was more frequent among patients with “idiopathic” disease (70%, 68%, and 33% versus 59%, 56%, and 27%, respectively). Patients admitted with idiopathic AP, in comparison to patients with known AP etiology, had milder disease with shorter hospital stay (3 days versus 4, respectively), and less re-admission in 30 days (7.5% versus 21.2%). Idiopathic AP patients had better prognosis in terms of 30-day death and complication (HR 0.33, 95% CI 0.08–0.40, P<0.001). Conclusion: Idiopathic disease is common among acute pancreatitis patients; the two study groups differed in severity of disease and prognosis. Common use of medications with doubtful value suggests possible under-diagnosis of drug-induced acute idiopathic pancreatitis.

Acute Pancreatitis and Acute Recurrent Pancreatitis: Investigation of Clinical and Etiological Factors

INTRODUCTION: It was aimed to evaluate the etiology, clinical, laboratory and imaging findings and treatment methods of patients who have admitted with acute pancreatitis (AP) and progressed to chronic pancreatitis (CP) with ARP (acute recurrent pancreatitis). METHODS: The data of children under the age of 18 years who were admitted to our hospital between January 2013-July 2020 and were diagnosed with acute, acute recurrent or chronic pancreatitis according to INSPPIRE diagnostic criteria were evaluated retrospectively. RESULTS: There were 77 patients who were followed-up with the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis. Pancreatitis attack did not recur in 53/77 patients and no underlying cause was found in 35.84% (19/53) of the patients. The most common factor in those whose cause could be determined was gallstones (15.1%) (8/53). The pancreatitis attack recurred in 24 (31%) of the patients. Congenital anomalies (9/24) and hereditary pancreatitis (5/24) were the most common causes of pancreatitis in these patients and these factors were a risk factor for the recurrence of pancreatitis attack. There was no difference between the groups in terms of complications (p=0.423); however, chronicity was more common in the group with ARP (p=0.003). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Beside the pancreatitis is a rare disease in childhood, with the increase of awareness and increased accessibility to diagnostic imaging methods, more and more pancreatitis is diagnosed day by day. Idiopathic acute pancreatitis cases still constitute the largest group. If other causes are excluded in these cases, it is important to investigate congenital anomalies, genetic and metabolic etiologies

EUS is superior to secretin-enhanced cholangio-MRI to establish the etiology of idiopathic acute pancreatitis

Background and study aims The etiology of idiopathic acute pancreatitis (IAP) should always be defined. Our aim was to compare the diagnostic value of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) versus secretin-enhanced magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (S-MRCP) in patients with IAP. Patients and Methods Patients admitted to a single tertiary care University hospital with IAP were invited to participate in the study. Enrolled patients underwent EUS and S-MRCP in a single-blinded comparative study. EUS and S-MRCP were performed no sooner than 4 weeks after discharge. The diagnostic yield of EUS and S-MRCP and demographic variables were included in the analysis. Additional follow-up, results of subsequent serology, radiographic exams, and relevant histological analysis were considered in determination of the final diagnosis. Results A total of 34 patients were enrolled; EUS was normal in six, cholelithiasis was defined in 15, choledocholithiasis in two, pancreas divisum in three, branch-type intraductal papillary mucinous tumor (IPMT) in three, and chronic pancreatitis in five. S-MRCP identified choledocholithiasis in one, divisum in four, branch-type IPMT in three, chronic pancreatitis in two; 24 subjects diagnosed as normal by S-MRCP. Diagnostic correlation between EUS and S-MRCP was slight (kappa = 0.236, 95 % confidence interval: 0.055–0.416). EUS provided a statistically significantly higher diagnostic yield than S-MRCP: 79.4 % (CI95 %: 65 %–94 %) vs 29.4 % (CI95 %: 13 %–46 %) (P = 0.0002). The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of EUS and S-MRCP were 90 %, 80 %, 96 %, 57 % and 33 %, 100 %, 100 % and 16 %, respectively. Conclusion The diagnostic yield of EUS is higher than S-MRCP in patients with IAP.