ABSTRACT
Objective To study the exocrine pancreatic function in critically ill children with septic shock,sepsis and hyperlactacidemia.Methods A total of 64 critical pediatric patients were admitted from Jan 2009 to Oct 2012,and clinical and laboratory findings including pancreatic function,and histopathological features and score after autopsy were reviewed.Results (1) Compared with non-septic shock children,the pancreatic pathology score and serum lipase in septic shock group were significantly higher and serum calcium was significantly reduced (P ＜0.05) ; (2) The pancreatic histopathology score was significantly increased in patients with elevated plasma lactate ≥2 times (P ＜0.05),but there were no significant differences in serum calcium and blood amylase and lipase between patients with elevated plasma lactate level and patients with normal plasma lactate level; (3) The concentrations of serum amylase,lipase and urinary amylase were significantly increased in patients with pancreatic histopathology score ＞4 points compared with score ≤4 points patients,but there were no significant differences in above three biomarkers between patients with score ≤3 points and patients with score ＞3 points.Conclusions The pancreas is vulnerable to damage easily occurred in septic shock children especially complicated with hyperlactacidemia.The pancreatic histopathology score ＞ 4 points can be as a sensitive and reliable indicator of pancreas damage.