Treatment of acute pancreatitis

Abstract

There is no specific treatment for acute pancreatitis. Majority of patients with acute pancreatitis respond to medical therapy. Supportive measures and close observations represent the cornerstone of the medical therapy. Failure to respond to medical treatment may indicate choledocholithiasis or infected necrosis. Endoscopic papillotomy with stone retrieval is beneficial in patients with severe biliary pancreatitis. Image-guided fine needle aspiration and bacteriological examination of aspirate is reliable in detecting infection and deliniating causative pathogen. Surgical debridement is the method of choice for treatment of infected necrosis. In contrast, in pancreatic abscess, surgery is preserved for those, who do not respond to percutaneous drainage combined with antibiotics. The benefit of antisecretory and antiproteolytic agents is debatable. A combination of antioxidants, calcium channel antagonists and antibiotics may play a major role in the treatment of acute pancreatitis in the future