Acute pancreatitis or acute pancreatic necrosis is a sudden inflammation of the pancreas. It can have severe complications and high mortality despite treatment. While mild cases are often successfully treated with conservative measures, such as NPO (nil per os, fasting) and aggressive intravenous fluid rehydration, severe cases may require admission to the intensive care unit or even surgery to deal with complications of the disease process.
Source: WikipediaWithin all the people who go to their doctor with acute pancreatitis, 89% report having sharp abdominal pain, 72% report having vomiting, and 65% report having nausea. The symptoms that are highly suggestive of acute pancreatitis are upper abdominal pain, although you may still have acute pancreatitis without those symptoms.
Patients with acute pancreatitis often receive hematologic tests, complete blood count, radiographic imaging procedure, intravenous fluid replacement, kidney function tests, glucose measurement, urinalysis and electrolytes panel .
The most commonly prescribed drugs for patients with acute pancreatitis include ondansetron (zofran), hydromorphone (dilaudid), atropine / hyoscyamine / phenobarbital / scopolamine, zosyn, diatrizoate, chlordiazepoxide, pancrelipase (pancrease), pancreatin, iohexol (omnipaque), cefotetan, benzylpenicilloyl polylysine (pre-pen), glucagon and cephradine .
Ondansetron (Zofran) | $76 (14 days) | |
Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) | $50 (21 days) | |
Zosyn | $520 (7 days) | |
Diatrizoate | ||
Chlordiazepoxide | $8 (28 days) | |
Pancrelipase (Pancrease) | ||
Pancreatin | ||
Iohexol (Omnipaque) | ||
Cefotetan | $189 (7 days) | |
Benzylpenicilloyl Polylysine (Pre-Pen) | ||
Glucagon | $206 (7 days) | |
Cephradine |
Groups of people at highest risk for acute pancreatitis include age 45-59 years. On the other hand, age < 1 years almost never get acute pancreatitis.
< 1 years | 0.0x | |
1-4 years | 0.1x | |
5-14 years | 0.1x | |
15-29 years | 0.6x | |
30-44 years | 1.4x | |
45-59 years | 1.6x | |
60-74 years | 1.2x | |
75+ years | 1.1x |
Male | 1.2x | |
Female | 0.9x |
Black | 0.9x | |
Hispanic | 1.0x | |
White | 1.0x | |
Other | 0.8x |