ABSTRACT
Hypertriglyceridemia is a rare cause of acute pancreatitis. However, the relationship between gestational pancreatitis and hypertriglyceridemia is well known. We report here on a case of gestational pancreatitis due to hypertriglyceridemia in a 29 years old pregnant woman who was at 20 weeks gestation and suffered from epigastric pain and rebound tenderness. Lowering the elevated triglyceride level via heparin and insulin infusion therapy wasn't effective and the abdominal pain was unresponsive to analgesics. Plasma exchange was performed at day 3 in order to rapidly decrease the triglyceride and for the safety of the patient and her fetus. We report here that hypertriglyceridemia induced high risk gestational pancreatitis and this was treated by plasma exchange, and we briefly review the relevant literature.