Underrecognition of chylomicronemia as a cause of acute pancreatitis

To determine how often chylomicronemia is considered by admitting physicians as a possible cause of acute pancreatitis.

Retrospective hospital chart review.

Tertiary care teaching hospital in an urban centre with a referral population of 1 million.

All patients admitted with acute pancreatitis from Jan. 1, 1985, to Dec. 31, 1987. Episodes of pancreatitis were divided into two groups: those for which a cause was known after history taking, physical examination and laboratory investigation at the time of admission (group 1) and those for which a cause was unknown after full examination (group 2).

There were 319 episodes of chylomicronemia in 162 patients. The cause of the pancreatitis was known after examination at the time of admission in 239 (75%) of the episodes; there was hypertriglyceridemia in 7 (3%). No cause was identified after examination in the other 80 episodes (25%); chylomicronemia was considered in 18 cases (29%) and was found in 6 (33%) of them (mean serum triglyceride level 34.4 mmol/L). Of the remaining 62 episodes in group 2, 10 (16%) were later found to be caused by chylomicronemia (mean serum triglyceride level 22.6 mmol/L). Among the 80 episodes in group 2 at least one medical condition associated with chylomicronemia was present in 24. In only 7 (29%) of the 24 was chylomicronemia considered; in 6 the mean serum triglyceride level was 19.7 mmol/L.

Although the overall detection rate of chylomicronemia was low, its presence in patients without other etiologic factors after examination may have been much higher. Consideration of chylomicronemia in this subgroup at the time of presentation may increase diagnostic yield and help prevent further occurrences of pancreatitis.