[Pancreatic encephalopathy: about 2 cases and review of the literature]

Pancreatic encephalopathy (PE) is a rare complication of acute pancreatitis. Our study reports 2 cases of patients with pancreatic encephalopathy, hospitalized and treated in the Intensive Care Unit of the Military Hospital of Instruction Mohammed V, Rabat. Patient age ranged between 43 and 54 years, our 2 cases involved a woman and a man. The pathophysiologic process of EP is still not well understood, many assumptions have been described in the literature; some authors have suggested that lipase and phospholipase A2 are involved in the pathological process of PE. Other factors including infections, fluid and electrolyte disturbances, hypoxemia and perturbations in blood glucose can be triggers. The diagnosis of pancreatic encephalopathy is easy to establish, clinical symptoms usually include confusion, amazement and psychomotor agitation, sometimes associated with neurological damages such as convulsions, headache, transient hemiparesis, dysarthria, difficulties in verbal expression and amnesia. Paraclinical tests, including brain MRI and electroencephalogram allow a definitive diagnosis. Treatment is primarily symptomatic aiming to fight against factors favoring the onset of neurologic signs using resuscitative measures based on severity of the situation. The prognosis depends on the severity of acute pancreatitis and its complications. In our study data are broadly comparable to those currently published by the majority of authors.