Does Hypertriglyceridemia Aggravate Episodes Of Severe Acute Pancreatitis?

A research article to be published on July 28, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Prof. Xia from West China Hospital of Sichuan University investigated the effect of admission HTG on the episodes of SAP.

In this study, one hundred and seventy-six patients with SAP were divided into HTG group (n = 45) and control group (n = 131) according to admission triglyceride (TG) ≥ 5.65 mmol/L and < 5.65 mmol/L, respectively. Demographics, etiology, underlying diseases, biochemical parameters, Ranson' s score, acute physiology and chronic heath evaluation II(APACHE II) score, Balthazar's computed tomography (CT) score, complications and mortality werecompared. Correlation between admission TG and 24-hour APACHEⅡscore was analyzed.

Their results show that the incidence of admission hypocalcaemia, a predictable index of SAP, and the 24 hour APACHE II score were higher in the HTG group than in the control group. The complications, such as renal failure, shock and infection, and the mortality were higher in the HTG group than in the control group, indicating that HTG aggravates SAP, leading to systemic complications and a high mortality rate of SAP.