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Pancreatic Function Does Not Change After Treatment For Acute Biliary Pancreatitis

Normal exocrine and endocrine pancreatic function is recovered following cholecystectomy in patients with acute biliary pancreatitis.

In recent years, there has been some controversy surrounding the Cambridge and Marseilles symposia's conclusion that morphologic and functional recovery from acute biliary pancreatitis occurs once the initial cause and complications are eliminated. Some investigators have reported conflicting results.

Conflicting reports could be the result of differences in diagnostic methods, number of patients studied, severity of disease and tests used for evaluation, according to investigators from the General University Hospital of Valencia in Valencia, Spain.

These investigators conducted a prospective study of 63 patients with acute biliary pancreatitis. All patients underwent cholecystectomy and none underwent necrosectomy or pancreatectomy.

They assessed the severity of the disease during the acute phase according to the Atlanta criteria. Dynamic computed tomography was used to determine the occurrence and rate of necrosis. Exocrine and endocrine pancreatic function was evaluated at one, six and 12 months after the acute biliary pancreatitis episode.

Results showed no deficits in exocrine or endocrine pancreatic function following the episode, and severity of the episode was not related to post-episode pancreatic function, the investigators report.
World J Surg 2002; 26(4): 479-486. "Pancreatic Function after Acute Biliary Pancreatitis: Does It Change ?"

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