Effect of albumin infusion in patients with predicted severe acute pancreatitis: A randomized controlled trial

Although previous studies have shown the potential advantages of albumin administration in critically ill patients, it has not been tested in patients with severe acute pancreatitis.

In this single-center trial, we randomly assigned 60 patients with acute pancreatitis in the intensive care unit (ICU) to receive 5 % albumin and crystalloid solution or crystalloid solution alone. Patients in the albumin group received 30 g of 5 % albumin daily within the first 3 days of admission. The primary endpoint was remission of SIRS on Day 3 and the co-primary outcome was all-cause mortality 60 days after discharge.

No significant differences in patient characteristics, time of admission, degree of organ failure at admission, vital signs, biochemical indicators or total daily amount of administered fluid (P > 0.05) were detected between the two groups. There were also no significant differences between the patients in the crystalloid group and those in the albumin group regarding SIRS remission and 60-day mortality. However, the incidence of sepsis in the albumin group was lower than that in the crystalloid group (10 % vs. 36.7 %, respectively; P = 0.01).

In our study, albumin replacement did not reduce the remission rate of SIRS or the rate of mortality at 60 days in patients with acute pancreatitis.