Objective:To investigate the diagnosis and treatment of pregnancy-associated pancreatitis (PAP).
Methods:A retrospective review of medical records of pregnant women suffered from PAP admitted to Xiangya Hospital between 2002 and 2009.
Results:Sixteen patients presenting with 18 episodes of acute pancreatitis were identified. Most attacks occurred in the third trimester (15/18). Five patients were classified as SAP by APACHE II system. Six patients had hypertriglyceridemia, 1 patient caused by gall stone, the others had “undetermined” etiologies. Elevating of amylase was appeared in 14 patients (77.8%, 14/18). B type ultrasonography (BUS) was taken as the most effective method for diagnosis of pancreatitis, the accuracy diagnastic rate was 66.7% of BUS in this study. All the patients were accepted conservative treatment after admission. Operation was performed in one patient. Pregnancy was terminated in 13 patients. Three fetal were loss (18.8%) and there were no maternal death occurred.
Conclusions:Pancreatitis attacks pregnancy women in second and third trimester mostly. Hypertriglyceridemia was the frequency cause of pregnancy-associated pancreatitis in this group. Conservative treatment was the first choice of treatment. The safety of maternal should have to be considerated firstly during treatment. Terminating pregnancy in the proper time, as well as treating maternal and fetal by cooperation of doctors of separate department may help increase the prognosis of this disease.