Surgical management of acute pancreatitis in Italy: lessons from a prospective multicentre study

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the surgical treatment of acute pancreatitis in Italy and to assess compliance with international guidelines. METHODS: A series of 1173 patients in 56 hospitals were prospectively enrolled and their data analysed. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients with severe pancreatitis underwent surgical intervention. Necrosectomy was performed in 26 patients, associated with postoperative lavage in 70% of cases. A feeding jejunostomy was added in 37% of cases. Mortality was 21%. Of the patients with mild pancreatitis, 714 patients with a biliary aetiology were evaluated. Prophylactic treatment of relapses was carried out in 212 patients (36%) by cholecystectomy and in 161 using a laparoscopic approach. Preoperative endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography was associated with cholecystectomy in 83 patients (39%). Forty-seven patients (22%) were treated at a second admission, with a median delay of 31 days from the onset of pancreatitis. Eighteen patients with severe pancreatitis underwent cholecystectomy 37.9 days after the first admission. There were no deaths. DISCUSSION: The results indicate poor compliance with published guidelines. In severe pancreatitis, early surgical intervention is frequently performed and enteral feeding is seldom used. Only a small number of patients with mild biliary pancreatitis undergo definitive treatment (i.e. cholecystectomy) within 4 weeks of the onset of pancreatitis.