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Pleural effusions in acute pancreatitis
A P Uchikov1, H D Shipkov, D I Markova
1Higher Medical Institute, Clinic of Thoracic and Abdominal Surgery, 15A Vassil Aprilov St., 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Background:
Acute pancreatitis ranks third among the inflammatory diseases causing acute abdomen; it accounts for about 2% of all cases of acute surgical abdomen. The clinical course of the disease is characterised by a number of local and systemic complications, the most frequent being respiratory disorders.
Methods:
In the present study we review our experience with the management of acute pancreatitis in 75 patients complicated by pleural effusions in some of them. The patients were allocated into two groups depending on the severity of the disease: group I included patients with mild pancreatitis and group II--with severe acute pancreatitis.
Results:
Pleural effusions were found in 4.7% of the patients in group I and in 24.2% in group II. They were given conservative treatment; it included puncture in three patients.
Conclusions:
Pleural effusions, which are indicators of poor prognosis, are observed most often in severe acute pancreatitis.