NUTRITIONAL MANAGEMENT in ACUTE and CHRONIC PANCREATITIS Earnest Alexander Jr., Pharm.D
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NUTRITIONAL MANAGEMENT IN ACUTE AND CHRONIC PANCREATITIS Earnest Alexander Jr., Pharm.D. Reviewed by Susan C. Fagan, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS; and Mark Newnham, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCNSP admissions. The remaining 20–30% of patients are admitted Learning Objectives with severe pancreatitis with reported mortality rates of up to 25–30%. Therefore, the ratio of mild to severe acute 1. Evaluate the classification, clinical manifestations, and pancreatitis is about 4:1. long-term risks associated with acute and chronic Acute fluid collection occurs in 30–50% of acute pancreatitis. pancreatitis cases and typically resolves spontaneously. A 2. Assess common diagnostic tools used in acute and pseudocyst is a fluid collection that persists for 4–6 weeks chronic pancreatitis and evaluate their usefulness. and becomes encapsulated by a wall of fibrous or 3. Analyze patient-specific characteristics in determining granulation tissue. Asymptomatic pseudocysts do not the nutritional support needs and goals of patients with require treatment. If symptomatic, pseudocysts can be acute and chronic pancreatitis. managed surgically, radiologically, or endoscopically. A 4. Demonstrate an understanding of the role of enteral and small subset of patients with severe acute pancreatitis will parenteral nutrition support in managing acute and develop chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic necrosis. It is chronic pancreatitis. estimated that about 5–15% of patients with acute and 5. Develop a plan to provide nutrition support through an chronic pancreatitis develop necrotizing pancreatitis. appropriate route to a patient with acute and chronic Necrotizing pancreatitis is a devastating disease with pancreatitis. reported mortality rates of up to 50–80%. Appropriate surgical, antibiotic, and nutritional management reduces Introduction to Acute and these rates to about 5–20%. Chronic Pancreatitis Classifying and Diagnosing Epidemiology of Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis Pancreatitis Acute pancreatitis is defined as an acute inflammatory process of the pancreas with variable involvement of other Many scoring systems have evolved to identify patients regional tissues and remote organ systems. It is a relatively with severe pancreatitis who are at highest risk for organ common disease, affecting 200,000 individuals annually in failure and/or local complications, such as necrosis, abscess, the United States. Although it often runs a mild course, up or pseudocyst. Ranson criteria are scored based on to 30% of acute pancreatitis cases will be associated with 11 clinical criteria with prognostic importance and is the significant morbidity and mortality. Acute pancreatitis is most widely recognized system for classifying pancreatitis. characterized by the sudden onset of severe epigastric pain, Five of these criteria are measured at the time of admission which accounts for 3% of hospital admissions for abdominal and the other six in the first 48 hours after admission. The pain. Mild attacks account for 70–80% of acute pancreatitis number of Ranson criteria present at the time of assessment Fang J, DiSario JA. Nutritional management of acute pancreatitis. Curr Gastroenterol Rep 2002;4:120–7. Rettally CA, Skarda S, Garza MA, Schenker S. The usefulness of laboratory tests in the early assessment of severity of acute pancreatitis. Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci 2003;40:117–49. Pharmacotherapy Self-Assessment Program, 5th Edition 183 Nutritional Management in Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis during acute pancreatitis occur with a delay of 1–2 days, as Abbreviations in this it reflects the stimulation of hepatic synthesis of the acute phase reactants mediated by interleukin-6. Although the Chapter release of inflammatory mediators such as interleukin-6 and polymorphonuclear elastase occurs more rapidly, serum APACHE II Acute Physiology and Chronic CRP determination is still the most widely used individual Health Evaluation II marker for prognostic assessment of acute pancreatitis CRP C-reactive protein because of ease of use and widespread availability. EN Enteral nutrition C-reactive protein indicates pancreatic necrosis within TPN Total parenteral nutrition 48–72 hours after disease onset with an accuracy of about 90%. The Atlanta classification is an additional scoring system is correlated with the incidence of systemic complications that uses information obtained by contrast-enhanced and the presence of pancreatic necrosis. In addition to the computed tomography and clarified definitions of the Ranson criteria, the Glasgow criteria are scored using a different complications likely to be encountered with acute similar approach with only eight clinical criteria assessed pancreatitis. The Atlanta classification system categorizes during the first 48 hours. These scoring systems are detailed disease under the general heading of pancreatic necrosis. in Tables 1-1 and 1-2. Mild acute pancreatitis is associated Ultrasound or magnetic resonance pancreatography with two or fewer criteria with both the Ranson and combined with this system aid in distinguishing among Glasgow scoring systems. Despite some limitations in localized collections of necrotic tissues, acute pseudocysts, sensitivity and specificity, studies suggest that patients with and fluid collections. a Ranson or Glasgow criteria of 3 or higher have severe Evidence on computed tomography of hypoperfusion pancreatitis. correlates well with pancreatic necrosis. Computed The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II tomography is useful for diagnosing pancreatic necrosis (APACHE II) is an illness severity score and prognostic after the first 24 hours of symptom onset with sensitivity indicator based on 12 physiological variables, the patient’s further improving to about 100% between 4 and 10 days age, and any history of severe organ system dysfunction or after symptom onset. immunocompromised state. Traditionally, an APACHE II Interleukins (i.e., interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and score of 10 or higher indicates the presence of severe interleukin-18), trypsin activation peptide, procalcitonin, pancreatitis. However, many clinicians and researchers procarboxypeptidase-activation peptide, and phospholipase currently use a lower APACHE II score (6 or higher) to A2 also are markers of disease severity with proven validity, differentiate mild acute pancreatitis from severe acute but they are either too expensive or too time-consuming for pancreatitis. This lower APACHE II score has not yet been routine clinical practice. A single serological marker with fully adopted by all practitioners because of the increased absolute reliability to predict a severe attack of acute probability of erroneous classification of patients with mild pancreatitis at any time after onset of the disease is still not acute pancreatitis as severe. The distinction between available. APACHE II scoring cutoffs and the classification of mild Amylase and lipase are both enzymes released from the and severe acute pancreatitis is important in properly pancreas during acute pancreatitis. Despite widespread use evaluating the results of clinical data from recently of amylase and lipase concentrations for diagnosing acute published studies. Studies that classify severe acute pancreatitis, the prognostic ability of either enzyme to pancreatitis in patients with an APACHE II score of 10 or assess severity of disease has been consistently poor. The greater than three Ranson criteria ensures the exclusion of reason plasma concentrations of the pancreatic enzymes patients with mild disease. Unlike the Ranson or Glasgow have no value in predicting severity probably relates to the system, the APACHE II score is more flexible, allows for rapid decline in concentrations after an early peak. The peak classification of illness severity on admission, and may be occurs within the first 24 hours of symptoms, with amylase recalculated daily. A combination of the APACHE II with having a shorter half-life compared to lipase. The decrease either the Ranson or Glasgow scoring systems in research in concentrations over the course of several days limits the and clinical practice ensures sensitivity and specificity in accuracy of these enzymes in measuring pancreatic severity classifying acute pancreatitis and assessing progression of through the course of the disease. In addition, in the absence the disease. To ensure the inclusion of patients with severe of pancreatitis, serum lipase may increase up to 2-fold pancreatitis, studies should include only patients with three above normal in severe renal insufficiency (creatinine or more Ranson criteria or an APACHE II score of 10 or clearance of 20 ml/minute or less). Pancreatic enzyme more. concentrations also have limited value in diagnosing In many institutions, measurement of biochemical chronic pancreatitis, with concentrations often normal or markers has become a standard for prognostic assessment. low. The diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis is based on An advantage of the markers is that they can be measured recurrent abdominal pain, radiographic abnormalities, and repeatedly and thereby draw attention to the development of functional testing failures. Practitioners traditionally have severe disease more simply than the complex scoring monitored daily enzyme concentrations instead of patients’ criteria. The use of C-reactive protein (CRP) can detect overall clinical picture in patients with chronic pancreatitis. pancreatic necrosis in the majority of patients with However, published data would suggest that this practice is concentrations