Sistema Gastrointestinal e Digestivo

Abstrato

NAFLD Diagnosed with Abdominal Ultrasound is a Marker of Severity in Acute Pancreatitis

Sarfaraz Jasdanwala

Objective: Obesity, particularly metabolic obesity, is associated with an increased incidence and enhanced severity of acute pancreatitis (AP). Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is a marker of metabolic obesity, which can be easily diagnosed, with the help of initial abdominal ultrasound (AUS) routinely performed in all patients with AP upon admission to assess a biliary etiology. The aim of this study is to identify the clinical utility of detecting NAFLD by AUS in determining the severity of patients with AP

Methods: Five hundred and seventy four patients with non-alcoholic AP were divided into two groups on the basis of presence or absence of NAFLD detected by AUS at the time of admission. The diagnosis of NAFLD was based solely on imaging findings. Well-established single markers of prognosis as well as scoring systems were studied in both groups. The data was analyzed using the student's t-test, chi-square test and multivariate regression analysis.

Results: Patients with NAFLD had a more severe disease as compared to patients without NAFLD as measured by single markers of prognosis like serum albumin, mean length of stay, ICU admission and mortality as well as scoring systems like BISAP score and Modified Atlanta Classification system ( P value < 0.05) BMI, by itself, was not associated with any difference in outcomes in patients with and without NAFLD as assessed by multivariate regression analysis. Age, sex and individual components of metabolic syndrome also had no influence on the prognostic markers

Conclusion: Presence of NAFLD as diagnosed by early AUS can be used as an additional single marker of prognosis in AP. The diagnosis of NAFLD is objective and almost always available at the time of initial presentation of AP.