[Artificial nutrition in severe acute pancreatitis: an evolving concept]. / La nutrizione artificiale nella pancreatite acuta grave. Un concetto in evoluzione.

We reviewed our series of consecutive cases of severe pancreatitis observed from 2002 to 2004, in order to verify how our actual therapeutic strategy improved prognosis. Seventeen patients with diagnosis of severe pancreatitis (SP) were admitted. On presumption of SP we inserted a naso-jejunal self-propelling feeding tube (SPT) in all but one patients, and an early enteral nutrition ( EEN ) was started. Severity of pancreatitis has been scored by APACHE II (> 8), IMRIE (> or = 3), and Balthazar Computed Tomography findings (> 30% necrosis). We always used a polymeric diet added with glutamine and fibres at initial rate of 20-30 ml/h until achievement of a full regimen of EEN, based on Harris-Benedict formula but no more than 30 kcal/kg/day. Only one patient has been submitted to surgical removal of infected necrosis. A patient died (5.8%) by dis-metabolic and septic state. From our experience we can state EEN is safe and useful to determine a favourable outcome on this dismal pathology, preserving the patient from infection, without significative alterations of nutritional index.

Sonography versus helical CT in identification and staging of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

PURPOSE: The aim of this prospective study was to compare sonography with helical CT in the identification and staging of ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. METHODS: Sixty-four patients with histopathologically proven pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma underwent both sonography and helical CT at our hospital between November 1, 2000, and October 31, 2001. These diagnostic imaging examinations were performed by 2 independent radiologists who were unaware of the findings of any other imaging or histopathologic examination and who assessed each case for the presence of tumor, involvement of peripancreatic vessels, the presence of metastases in the liver, and the resectability of the tumor. In the patients who underwent subsequent laparotomy, imaging-based diagnoses of overall resectability and vascular involvement were compared with surgical findings, which were considered the gold standard. Imaging-based diagnoses for the presence of hepatic metastases were compared with the findings of intraoperative sonography in patients who underwent radical resection and with the surgical findings in the patients who underwent palliative surgery; the operative findings were considered the gold standard. RESULTS: In the identification of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, sonography was more accurate (61 of 64 tumors, 95.3%) than helical CT was (57 of 64 tumors, 89.1%). In the overall prediction of resectability among the 43 patients who underwent laparotomy, sonography (81.4%) was less accurate than CT was (86.0%). In diagnosing involvement of the superior mesenteric artery, sonography (95.3%) was more accurate than CT (88.4%). The 2 methods were equally accurate in diagnosing hepatic metastases (86.0%) and involvement of the celiac trunk (100%) and the superior mesenteric vein (88.4%), but sonography was less accurate than CT for diagnosing involvement of the common hepatic artery (90.7% versus 95.3%, respectively) and portal vein (88.4% versus 93.0%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Sonography is more reliable than CT in identifying pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and its accuracy in staging is similar to that of CT.