Retroperitoneal compartment pressure elevation impairs pancreatic tissue blood flow

Posttraumatic Pancreatitis Four Days after Renal Injury with Massive Retroperitoneal Hematoma

A 25-year-old man accidentally fell from a cliff and hit his right flank on the ground while camping. Initially, he was able to barely walk, but he ultimately became unable to walk at all due to severe flank pain. He had no remarkable personal or family history and was a social drinker. Upon arrival, he showed clear consciousness but was in a hemorrhagic shock state. Enhanced computed tomography (CT) revealed extravasation of contrast medium from the injured right kidney with massive retroperitoneal hematoma. He underwent massive blood transfusion and tracheal intubation followed by renal embolization. His vital signs stabilized on hospital day 2, and he was extubated on day 3. On days 4 and 5, a blood examination revealed increased levels of amylase (360 and 904 IU/L, respectively). Enhanced CT on day 5 did not show signs of severe acute pancreatitis. The maximum amylase level was 1041 IU/L on day 6 and decreased day by day without deterioration of the severity of his acute pancreatitis. He was discharged on day 14. The subacute phase of posttraumatic acute pancreatitis in the present case may have been induced not by direct injury to the pancreas but by several causative factors, such as shock, increased pressure of the retroperitoneal space, or the release of inflammatory mediators from injured tissues or hematoma.

Significance of renal rim grade on computed tomography in severity evaluation of acute pancreatitis

OBJECTIVES

Multifactor scoring systems, such as the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II, are useful for predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis (AP); however, they are rather complicated. The aim of this study was to introduce renal rim grade (RRG) as a severity assessment measure for AP.

METHODS

One hundred twenty-two eligible AP patients who underwent abdominal computed tomography (CT) on admission were evaluated for RRG (grades 1-3). The end points were the severity of illness and hospital mortality. Furthermore, RRG was compared with the Balthazar score, the CT severity index, the Ranson score, and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, using a receiver operating characteristic analysis.

RESULTS

The exacerbation rates into severe disease were 3% (grade 1), 48% (grade 2), and 89% (grade 3). The mortality rates were 3% (grade 1), 8% (grade 2), and 31% (grade 3). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves to predict the severe disease and mortality using the RRG system were comparable with other scoring systems.

CONCLUSIONS

Renal rim grade is useful for the evaluation of the severity of AP.

Surgical Approach to Treatment of Necrotizing Pancreatitis: Early Primary Drainage without Necrosectomy. Review of Seven Recent Cases

Unsatisfactory results of surgery in the late course of pancreatic necrosis made us search for indications and variants of operation in the early phase of the disease. As early surgical intervention, the universal approach was used in 7 patients with necrotizing pancreatitis who had a different prevalence of the inflammatory process in the retroperitoneal space. The drainage proved to be effective and enabled us to always prevent generalized infectious complications in the later phases of the disease in absence of local complications specific for open surgery: bleeding and digestive fistulas. In spite of obvious infected process development in primary open surgery, we noticed a stable decrease in procalcitonin level following the drainage. A surgical intervention has been developed enabling one to reveal in time the volume of damaged retroperitoneal fat tissue and to drain it adequately in compliance with the process prevalence, thus avoiding septic complications in the late phase of the disease. The method's advantage involves refusal from necrosectomy in primary intervention, weekly staged revisions of the retroperitoneal space via formed contrapertures as dictated by evolution of the necrotic process in the gland.

Recovery from respiratory failure after decompression laparotomy for severe acute pancreatitis

We present three cases of patients (at the age of 56 years, 49 years and 74 years respectively) with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP), complicated by intra-abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) and respiratory insufficiency with limitations of mechanical ventilation. The respiratory situation of the patients was significantly improved after decompression laparotomy (DL) and lung protective ventilation was re-achieved. ACS was discussed followed by a short review of the literature. Our cases show that DL may help patients with SAP to recover from severe respiratory failure.