Pancreatic panniculitis in active systemic lupus erythematosus

A Case of Pancreatitis-Panniculitis-Polyarthritis Syndrome due to Primary Hepatic Neuroendocrine Tumor

ABSTRACT

A 66-year-old male patient presented to our department with subcutaneous nodules in both lower extremities accompanied by pain. Skin pathology suggested pancreatic panniculitis. Subsequent imaging and histopathology identified a rare case of pancreatitis-panniculitis-polyarthritis syndrome secondary to a primary hepatic neuroendocrine tumor. This case highlights the rare association between nonpancreatic conditions and pancreatic panniculitis.

Hyperlipasemia Sans Pancreatitis: A Case Series

Acute pancreatitis results in inflammation and autodigestion of pancreatic acinar cells leading to the elevation of pancreatic enzymes, namely, amylase and lipase. Serum lipase levels have long been considered a hallmark of acute pancreatitis. However, pancreatitis is not always the cause of elevated serum lipase levels. This series presents four patients who had elevated serum lipase levels without any demonstrable damage to the pancreas on imaging. On further evaluation, one of the patients was found to have acute on chronic kidney disease (CKD) whose lipase levels settled later. A patient presenting with an episode of acute gastroenteritis, later diagnosed to have Crohn's disease, also had hyperlipasemia, which improved after a course of initial antibiotics. Non-gastrointestinal causes, such as lupus nephritis and organophosphate (OP) poisoning, also had elevated lipase levels on presentation, in which the hyperlipasemia settled with supportive treatments. It is important to remember other causes of elevated lipase levels in patients with a normal pancreas on imaging studies.

Assessment of acute pancreatitis severity via determination of serum levels of hsa-miR-126-5p and IL-6

Early assessment of acute pancreatitis (AP) severity is key to its treatment. The present study aimed to explore the role of microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) combined with inflammatory factors in determining AP severity. For this, serum pro-inflammatory cytokines [tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10)] and miRNAs [Homo sapiens (hsa)-miR-548d-5p, hsa-miR-126-5p and hsa-miR-130b-5p] were detected in patients with mild AP (MAP), severe AP (SAP) and recurrent AP (RAP). High expression of IL-10, TNF-α, hsa-miR-126-5p, hsa-miR-548d-5p and hsa-miR-130b-5p was able to distinguish SAP from MAP and RAP (P<0.05). Multifactorial binary logistic regression analysis indicated that IL-1/IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p/hsa-miR-548d-5p had a significant influence on AP and AP severity (P<0.05). Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that IL-1 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p [area under the curve (AUC), 0.926; sensitivity, 90.0%; specificity, 86.7%, P<0.001] and IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p (AUC, 0.952; sensitivity, 93.3%; specificity, 90.0%; P<0.001) were able to better distinguish MAP from SAP than IL-1/IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-548d-5p, lipase, and amylase. IL-1 or IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-548d-5p (AUC, 0.924; sensitivity, 83.3%; specificity, 93.3%; P<0.001) were able to better distinguish SAP from RAP than IL-1/IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p, lipase, and amylase. IL-1 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p (AUC, 0.926; sensitivity, 90.0%; specificity, 86.7%; P<0.001) and IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p (AUC, 0.952; sensitivity, 93.3%; specificity, 90.0%; P<0.001) were able to better differentiate between MAP and RAP than IL-1/IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-548d-5p, lipase, and amylase. These results demonstrated that the combined detection of serum IL-6 and hsa-miR-126-5p may be useful for the early prediction of AP classification.