Insulin and Heparin Therapies in Acute Pancreatitis due to Hypertriglyceridemia

To compare insulin infusion and heparin infusion, used to treat hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis in terms of efficacy.

Descriptive study.

Department of Gastroenterology, Division of Internal Disease, Sivas Cumhuriyet University Hospital, Sivas, Turkey, from 1st January 2013 to 1st  January 2020.

Patients who presented with abdominal pain and were found to have edematous pancreatitis on computed tomography imaging were retrospectively reviewed. Thirty-six patients with hypertriglyceridemia were included. Eighteen of the patients were given insulin infusion, while the other 18 were given heparin infusion therapy. The patients' gender, age, admission amylase values, AST, ALT, total cholesterol, glucose, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), CRP, leukocyte, pre-treatment and post-treatment first, second, and third-day triglyceride levels were recorded from the files.

The post-treatment third-day triglyceride levels of the insulin therapy group were statistically significantly lower compared to the heparin therapy group (432.5; 984, p<0.001, respectively).   Conclusion: Insulin infusion, in addition to fluid therapy and electrolyte imbalance, was more effective than heparin therapy in patients with hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis. Key Words: Hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis, Insulin therapy, Heparin therapy.