Clinical characteristics of acute pancreatitis patients with elevated serum triglyceride concentration.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the clinical characteristics of acute pancreatitis (AP) patients with elevated serum triglyceride (TG) concentration.

METHODS

Ninety-nine cases of AP admitted from January 2000 to January 2002 were analyzed: 28 cases comprised the TG-elevated group (serum TG >1.7 mmol/L) and 71 cases were the TG-normal group (serum TG

RESULTS

The AP patients with elevated serum TG accounted for 11.3% (9/80) of all AP cases during the study period. Pulmonary, cardiovascular and renal dysfunction within 72 h of onset of AP were all higher in the TG-elevated group than in the group with normal TG (25.0% vs 1.4%; 17.9% vs 1.4%; 14.3% vs 1.4%, respectively; P < 0.05). The incidence of pancreatic pseudocyst was 53.6% and 4.2%, respectively, in the group with elevated TG and in the group with normal TG (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with AP and elevated serum TG concentration have organ dysfunction at an earlier stage and increased local complications. Non-surgical therapy was common for the majority of these patients.