[Acute pancreatitis caused by atrial fibrillation?]

We report three male patients who had atrial fibrillation with a rapid and irregular ventricular rate, aged 60, 69 and 70 years, respectively, in whom development of acute pancreatitis occurred simultaneously with other ischaemic events.

One of these patients simultaneously suffered from a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), another developed a stroke and an infarction of the spleen, while the third one had a splenic infarction and an embolism in the region of the mesenteric arteries. Two patients had paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, while the third suffered from ischemic cardiomyopathy with chronic atrial fibrillation.

Oedematous pancreatitis occurred in one patient while, in the two others, the diagnosis of severe necrotizing pancreatitis was made.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice and a recognized risk factor for the development of peripheral embolism, which often takes the form of an ischaemic stroke. It is a major cause of stroke, especially in the elderly. Because of the simultaneous occurrence of thromboembolic events in all three patients, an ischaemic cause for the acute pancreatitis can be assumed with a high degree of probability. This is one of the first reports of acute ischaemic pancreatitis probably caused by microembolization secondary to atrial fibrillation. Because of the relatively frequent occurrence of atrial fibrillation, this factor deserves increased attention in the differential diagnosis of supposedly idiopathic pancreatitis.