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8/3/2019 58269831 Balthazar Scale Pancreatitis
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76 7
.4, Emi l J . B aithazar , M .D .
John H .C Ranson , BM ., B .C h .
D av id P . N a id ich , M .D .
A lec J . M egibow , M .D .
I’ R obert C accava le , M .D .
M atth ew M . C ooper , M .D .
Acu te P anc rea titis : P rognos tic Va lu e
o f C T1
In 83 patien ts w ith a cu te pancreatitis , th e
in itia l com pu ted tom og raph ic (C T ) ex -
A am ination s w ere c lassif ied by degree o fd isease sev erity (g rades A -E ) an d w ere
correla ted w ith th e c lin ica l fo llow -up ,
ob jective p rognostic signs , and com p lica -
. tion s and dea th . Th e leng th o f ho sp ita l-
iza tion corre la ted w ell w ith th e severity
o f th e in itia l CT find ing s. Ab scesses oc -
.4 curred in 21 .6% of th e en tire g roup , com -
pared w ith 60 .0% of grade E patien ts.
P leu ra l e ffu sion s w ere a lso m ore comm on
in g rade E pa tien ts . G rades A and B pa-
, tien ts d id no t hav e ab sces ses , and none
d ied , rega rd les s o f th e n um ber o f p rog -
F no stic sign s. A bscesse s w ere seen in 8 0 .0%
I ‘ of pa tien ts w ith six to e ig h t p rog nostics igns, com pared w ith 1 2 .5% of th ose w ith
zero to tw o. T he u se o f p rogno stic sign s
w ith in it ia l CT find ings resu lts in im -
prov ed prognostic accuracy . E a r ly C T ex-
am ination of pa tien ts w ith a cu te pancrea-
titis is a usefu l p rog nos tic in d icato r o f
m o rb id ity and m orta lity .
‘ In dex te rm s : Pancre as, com pu ted tom og rap hy ,
77.1211 #{149}an cre atit is , 7 7 .2 91
R ad io logy 1985; 156:767-772
F rom th e D ep artm ents of R adio log y (E .J.B ., D .P .N .,
A .J.M .) and Su rge ry (J .H .C .R ., R .C ., M .M .C .), N ew
Y ork U niv ers ity M ed ica l C en ter , B elle vue H o spita l
M ed ica l C enter, N ew Y ork C ity . R ec eiv ed Jan uary 10 ,
19 85; acc ep ted an d rev ision reque ste d M arch 18 , 198 5;
re v is ion rece ived A pr il 3 . 1 985 .c RSNA , 1985
T HE degree , du ra tion , and typ e of trea tm en t o f acu te pancrea titis
a re based on the early eva lua tion of the in itial a ttack ’s severity .
U n til recen tly , th is eva lua tion re lied m ain ly o n the p resence on
absence o f varied c lin ica l pa ram eters such as tachycard ia , fever,
d ysp nea , o ligun ia , p ro trac ted ileus , and ten se abdom en . S evera l
m ethods of a m ore ob jec tive eva lua tio n have been rep orted (1 -7 )
tha t po ten tia lly im prov e prog nostic ab ility an d pred ic tion of com -
p lica tion s. A m ong them , the s ta tis tica l ana ly sis o f ea rly ob jec tive
m easu rem en ts o f m ultip le risk fac to rs , descr ib ed by R anson (2 , 3 ),
has rece iv ed w id e a tten tion and h as been consid ered a re liab le
p ro gnos tic in d ica to r o f the d iseases ’s severity . T h ese ob jec tive p rog-
no stic s igns (g rav e signs o r risk fac to rs ) h ave sign if ican tly im -
pro ved the in itia l assessm en t based on c lin ica l c rite ria a lone an d are
used as gu ide lin es in the d ecis io n -m ak ing pro cess o f se lec tin g
pro per m ed ica l o r su rg ica l trea tm en t in ou r ins titu tion .
S in ce m o rb id ity and m o rtality depen d in g rea t m easu re o n the
loca l pancrea tic an d p en ip ancreatic com plications (i.e., abscess,
pseudocys t, hem orrhag e) , com puted tom ograph ic (CT ) exam ina-
tion cou ld p lay an im portan t ro le in the in itia l assessm en t o f the
severity o f acu te p an cneatitis. Fo r th is reaso n , in the past 4 years w e
have em barked on a com p rehens iv e stud y designed to assess the
pro gnos tic va lue of the in itia l CT exam ina tion in pa tien ts w ith
acu te pancrea titis. O ur o b jec tives are (a ) to desc ribe , c lassify , an d
analyze the early CT find in gs in acu te pancrea titis ; and (b ) to assess
the ir p red ic tive va lue based on co rre lation of ear ly CT find ings
w ith c lin ica l and o b jective pro gnos tic sign s.
M ATERIALS AND M ETHODS
O ur stu dy is ba sed o n a de tailed analysis o f CT , c lin ica l, and lab ora to ry
find ings of 83 p atie n ts w ith acu te pan cre ati tis adm itte d to o ur inst itu t ion in
th e p ast 4 ye ars . T here w e re 63 m en and 20 wom en , aged 17-7 9 years , w ith a
m ean age of 4 5 years. The c lin ical d ia gno sis w as based on ty p ic al sym ptom s
su ch a s nau sea , vom itin g , abd om ina l pa in , a nd eleva tion o f serum am y lase
le vels abo ve 200 Som ogy i un its. T he etio log y o f pancreati tis w a s ch ron ic
a lco hol ab use in 51 p atie n ts , ch o le lith ias is in 11 , ga llstone s and a lco hol in
fiv e, hyp erl ip id em ia in tw o, an d m isc ella neo us o r u nknow n in 1 4 . T he re
w ere no case s o f traum atic p anc rea titis inc lud ed in th is series.
W e used the prev io usly repor ted o bje ctiv e p rog nos tic sig ns (2 , 3 , 6 , 7 ),
lis ted in Table 1 , to assess th e sever ity of the attack an d its po ssib le com p li-
ca tio ns. A ll pat ien ts w e re in i tia l ly treated by nasog astr ic su ctio n , in trav e-
no us f lu id , and su ppo rtiv e th erapy . W e drain ed in fected flu id co lle ctio ns
(absc esses) in 1 8 p atien ts (21 .7% ), som e upon in itia l e valuat ion and others a s
com p lic atio ns dev elo ped . T he clin ic al co urse , com plica tion s, tre atm ent ,
an d re spo nse to trea tm ent w ere record ed for al l ind iv id uals, un t il d ea th o r
d isch arg e from th e ho sp ita l.
CT exam inations w ere p erfo rm ed on a G E 8800 sc ann er (M ilw auk ee )
us ing stand ard te chn ica l p aram e ters . D ilu te d 2% barium sulfa te (E -Z -CA T ,
E -Z -EM , W estb ury , N .Y .) w as used as o ral c on tras t m a teria l, and a rap id
in trav eno us d rip in fus ion o f 30% d iatr izo ate m eg lum ine (R eno-M -D IP
[S qu ibb ]) w as sta rted im m ediate ly b efo re scan nin g u nle ss con tra ind icated .
B olus in je ctions w e re n ot used in th is stu dy .
A to ta l o f 152 C T scan s w e re ob tain ed , e ithe r a s a sin g le exam in atio n o r as
co nse cu tive , fo llow -up ex am ina tion s ap pro x im ate ly every 2 w eeks. Th e
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1 . CT scan o f no rm al pancreas in pa tie n t w ith clin ica l pan -
c reat itis (g rade A ) .
2. D iffuse en largem en t o f th e pancreas w itho u t per ipan -
c reat ic in flam m a tory chan ge s (grade B ).
3 . E nla rged p an cre as associate d w ith h azines s and in -
c rea sed densi ty o f per ipancre atic fa t (g rade C) . No te
p resenc e of d iffu se fatty in f iltra tio n o f l ive r.
I
4
8.
I
.# ,
A
RESULTS
O f the 83 p a tien ts su rvey ed , 6 3 m e-
covered w ith m ed ica l trea tm en t a lone
and w ere d ischarged , w hile 18 p a-
tie n ts (21 .7% ) becam e sep tic and m e-
Figures 1, 2, a nd 3
76 8 #{149}ad io logy S ep tem ber 1 985
in it ia l ex am ina tion s w ere pe rform ed
w ith in the first 3 h osp ita l d ay s in 40 pa -
tie n ts an d b etw een day 4 and 10 in 43 pa -
tie n ts. In gen era l, se ve rely il l pa tien ts m e -
ceived p rio rity fo r CT examination ,
m akin g th is sam ple un rep resen tative of
all p atie n ts w ith acu te pan cre atit is a d-
m it ted to o ur in sti tu tion .CT scan s w ere in terp rete d w ith out p rio r
know ledg e of c lin ical f ind ing s or ob jec -
tive pro gn ost ic signs . Th e fo l low ing con -
d it ion s w e re spe cif ica lly lo ok ed fo r and
reco rded : p resenc e of fat ty live r, g allb lad -
den pa tho log y , p eri ton eal effu sio n , a nd
pleu ral ef fus ion s.
In add itio n , w e cla ssif ied the type of
pan cre atic in flamm ation se en on CT scans
in to five ca teg orie s. Th is cla ssifica tio n w as
based on an overall a sse ssm en t o f siz e ,
con tou r, a nd d ens ity of the g land and per -
ipan cre atic abn orm ali ties . S pe cific m ea -
surem ents w e re n ot used in th is as sess -
m en t. W e u sed th e fo llow in g grades ,
w hich are s im ilar to tho se rep orte d in the
lite ratu re (8 ): g rad e A , n orm al pan cre as
(F ig . 1 ); g rade B , foc al o r d iffuse en large-
m en t of the pancreas (F ig . 2 ) (in clu d in g
con tou r irregu lar itie s, no nhom ogeneo us
attenu atio n of the g lan d , d ila ta t ion o f the
pan cre atic du ct, an d fo ci of sm a ll flu id co l-
le ctions w ith in the g lan d , as lo ng a s the re
w as no ev idence of p eripan cre atic d is-
ease ); g rade C, in trin sic p anc rea tic abn or-
m alitie s as soc iate d w ith haz ine ss and
streak y den sit ies re pre sen tin g inflam m a -
to ry change s in th e pe rip anc rea tic fat (F ig .
3); grad e D , sin g le , i ll-d efin ed flu id co lle c-
tion (p h legm on ) (F ig . 4 ) ; g rade E , tw o o r
m ultip le , poo rly def ined flu id co llec tio ns
2.
(F ig . 5 ) o r presen ce of gas in or ad ja cen t to
the pancrea s (Fig. 6).
quired su rg ic al d ra inag e of abscesses .
O n e pa tien t un derw en t su rgery to m e-
m ove a persis ten t pseudo cy st. F ive
pa tien ts w ith abscesses d ied , and on e
oth er p atien t d ied o f h ep a tic and
ren al fa ilu re w ith ou t ev id en ce of pan -
creatic ab scess . T he re la tio nsh ip of
the ob jec tive prognos tic signs to the
clin ica l c ou rse is show n in T ab le 2 .
4
“I
4,
4
A
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Figure 4
V olum e 156 N um ber 3 Radio logy #{149}69
a. b.
CT scan of en la rged body and ta il o f the pan creas (a ) w ith assoc ia ted flu id co llection in left an te rio r para rena l space (b ) (a rrow s) (g rade D ).
r Figure 5
a. b.
CT scan show ing la rge flu id co llec tions in the lesser sac and an ter io r pa rarena l sp ace in p atie n t w ith g rad e E pancreati tis . N ote com p res sion
. w ith par tia l ob stru ction o f th e du odenum and sligh t th icken in g of ga llb ladd er w all (a rrow s) .
Seco nda ry C T F ind in gs
Second ary C T find ing s tha t m ay
corre la te w ith th e severity o f acu te
pancrea titis w ere record ed . W e ob-
se rved fa tty in filtration of the live r in
21 p atien ts (25 .3% ) (F ig . 3 ) f rom all
five g rades of pancrea titis. G a llstones
w ere seen on CT scans in 1 2 p atien ts
(14 .5% ), bu t w ere m issed in a num ber
of o ther pa tien ts w ho pro ved to have
ch o le lith iasis on sonognam s o r during
su rg ical exp lo ration . W e observed
ga llb ladd en s w ith th ick ened w alls in
five pa tien ts , none of w hom had ga ll-
ston e pancreatitis (F ig . 5 ). S ix p atien ts
(7 .2% ) had fre e flu id in the pem ito ne al
cav ity , five w ith grade D or E pancrea -
titis. W e d e tec ted p leu ra l e ffusion s in
27 p atien ts (32 .5% ). E ffu sions w ere
presen t in 41% o f the 12 pa tien ts w ith
grade D and 65% o f th e 23 p atien ts
w ith grade E pan crea titis . B ila te ra l e f-
fus io ns w ere seen in 22% o f p atien ts
w ith grade E pan crea titis .
In our m o rpho log ic eva lua tion , w e
no ted a d iffuse inv o lvem ent o f the
pancreas in 68 of 83 cases and a seg-
m en ta l d istribu tion in the rem ain ing
15 cases (18 .1% ). In n ine pa tien ts
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.
a. CT scan sh ow ing increased den sity of the p eripan cre atic retrop eri ton eal fa t associated w ith ex tra lum in al air (arrow ) in p atien t w ith
pem ipancrea tic ab scess .
b . B ila te ra l, ill-de fined , re troperitonea l flu id co llec tions w ith m u ltip le g as bu bb les in pa tie n t w ith absces s (g rad e E ).
r
I
.I
A
Figur e 6
77 0 #{149}adio logy Sep tem ber 1985
(10 .8% ), th e in f lamm atory pro cess in -
vo lved exc lusiv ely or p redom inan tly
the head o f the pancreas (F ig . 7 ) ; in
f iv e, th e b ody and ta il; and in one ,
o n ly th e tail o f the pancreas. Sw elling
o f on ly the head of the pancreas w as
p resen t in th ree of the 1 1 pa tien ts
w ith g allston e p an crea titis (2 7 .3% )
bu t in on ly s ix cases o f a ll o the r types
o f pancrea titis (8 .3% ). Tw o pa tien ts
w ith h is to ries o f p rev ious pan crea titis
h ad p an crea tic d uc ta l ca lcifica tio ns
d em onstra ted o n CT scan s.
T h e p a tien ts w ere d iv ided accord -
ing to th e f iv e grades , an d the m ela -
tionsh ips b etw een d iffe ren t g rades
and the c lin ical course and prognos tic
s igns w ere an a ly zed . T h ere w ere 12
pa tien ts (1 4 .5% ) in grad e A , 19 (22 .9% )
in g rade B , 17 (20 .5% ) in grad e C , 12
(1 4 .5% ) in grad e D , and 23 (2 7 .7% ) in
grade E.
CT and C lin ica l C ourse
The re la tion sh ip be tw een ear ly CT
find in gs and c lin ica l course is sum -
m anized in T ab le 3 . T he av erag e n um -
ben of fas ting d ay s (n o th ing by
m ou th ) and days in th e ho sp ita l com e-la ted rough ly w ith the severity o f the
in itial C T find ing s. E xcep tio ns to the
genera l trend , how ever, o ccu rred ,
w ith som e pa tien ts in g rade B requ ir-
ing 4 w eeks of hosp ita lization and
som e in g rade D requ ir in g less than 2
w eek s of trea tm en t. N o pa tien t w ith
grad e A pancrea titis w as ser io usly ill,
and a ll five p atien ts w ho d ied because
of local com plications (abscesses ) m i-tially h ad grade D or E pancm ea titis.
R e tropem itonea l, ex tra lum ina l a ir
w as seen in four pa tien ts (F ig . 5 ) w ho
a ll p rov ed a t su rg ery to have in fected
abscesses . In th ree cases , g as bu bb les
w ere de tec ted on C T scan s in p atien ts
with on ly one to th ree prog nos tic
s igns w ith in the f ir st 2 4 hours o f hos-
pitalization.
F lu id co llec tion s w ere in itia lly seen
in 35 pa tien ts in g rades D and E (o r
45 .7% of these com bined g rades). F o l-
low -u p C T scan s show ed tha t in 19
pa tien ts (5 4 .3% ), flu id co llec tio ns m e-
so lved w itho u t fu rthe r com plications ,
w h ile in 1 6 pa tien ts (45 .7% ), they d id
n o t and even tua lly b ecam e in fec ted .
F lu id co llec tion s deve loped in on ly
th ree pa tien ts w ho d id no t have them
in itia lly and w ere c lass ified as g rade
C pancrea titis . O ne o f these pa tien ts
ended up w ith a pseudocys t an d tw o
w ith abscesses . In 15 pa tien ts, the in -
fec ted flu id co llec tio ns w ere dra ined
be tw een the 5 th and 50 th day hosp i-
ta lized afte r an average stay o f 25
days .
CT and P rognos tic S igns
The re lation sh ip be tw een early CT
find ings and prognos tic sign s is
sh ow n in T ab le 4 . T he re lationsh ip
be tw een the num ber of p rogn ostic
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Figure 7
V olum e 156 Num ber 3 Radio logy . 77 1
s ig ns and grad es of pancrea titis va ries
. w ide ly in pa tien ts w ith zero to five
p rogno stic s igns . A ll pa tien ts w ith
m ore than five prognostic sign s w ere
in grade E ; how ever, a few p atien ts
pa w ith four an d five signs w ere in
grades A and B.
W hen the num ber of pa tien ts w ith
ab scesses o r those tha t d ied w ere ana-
lyzed as a func tio n of com bined CT
fin d ings and prog nos tic s igns (T ab le
5 ), the com plica tion ra te and pro gno-
sis co u ld b e be tte r assessed . T h e num -
., ben of pa tien ts w ith abscesses in
g rades C and D is s ign ifican tly la rger
if the num ber of p rognos tic s igns ish igh er . In add ition , the percen tag e of
d ea ths correla ted w ell w ith the num -
b em of prognostic s igns .
DISCUSS ION
The rad io log ic fea tu res and ro le o f
. -. C T scann ing in in itia l d iagn osis o f
acu te pancrea titis an d its com plica -
tions a re w ell es tab lished in the lit-
eratu re (8 -18 ). T he CT appearance of
clin ica l fo rm s o f m ild (edem atou s, in -
te rs titia l) o r severe (necro tiz ing , hem -
om nhag ic ) p an creatitis h as been de-
p scn ibed (8 , 19 , 20). T o our kn ow ledg e ,
how ever, a com p rehensive eva lua-
tion of the prog nos tic va lue o f th e m i-.3 tia l CT exam ina tion based on c lin ica l
fo llow -up , su rg ica l find ings , and con-
S rela tion w ith p rogno stic s igns h as n o t
been perfo rm ed . T h is s tudy a ttem pts
to fill th is gap and estab lish es the va l-
ue of C T scann in g , no t on ly in the
in itia l d iagn osis o f p an crea titis, bu t as
a prog nos tic ind ica to r o f the d isease ’s
sev er ity and its expec ted com plica -
t ions .
Secondary CT F ind ing s
O u r search of the lite ra tu re d id no t
d isclo se a p rev ious assessm en t o f the
secon dary CT find in gs eva lu a ted in
th is study . F a tty in filtra tion of the liv -
en w as seen in 2 1% of our p a tien ts
(F ig . 3 ) and occurred abou t eq ua lly in
pa tien ts w ith m ild , m od era te , o r se-
vene pancrea titis . G a llb lad ders w ith
th ick en ed w alls w ere seen in five
cases (F ig . 5 ), and the s ign ifican ce is
unknow n since the co nd itio n w as
presen t in p atien ts w ithou t c lin ica l
ev idence of cho lecys titis. It m ay m e-
presen t non spec ific edem a assoc ia ted
w ith a lcoho lic live r d isease o r no n-
spec ific in f lamm ation re la ted to pan-
crea titis. P leu ra l e ffu sions w ere la rger
an d m ore comm only seen in pa tien ts
w ith severe p an crea titis. In th is ser ies ,
they w ere presen t in 65% of g rade E
p atien ts and in on ly 1 0% in grades A
and B . B ila te ra l p leu ra l e ffu sions w ere
seen a lm ost ex clus ive ly in grade E pa-
tien ts. T here w as n o corre la tion be-
tw een the severity o f pancrea titis and
its cau se in th is ser ies . F iv e of the 11
cases o f ga lls tone p an creatitis w ere
c lass ified as g rade E , w h ile th e o th er
s ix w ere grad e A , B , o r C .
W h ile acu te pancrea titis is g en eral-
ly con side red a d if fuse d isease , in th is
ser ies a segm enta l fo rm of p an crea ti-
tis w as observed in 18 .1% of the cases.
(F ig . 7 ). Spec ifically , the head of the
pancreas w as en la rged in a la rger p ro -
portion of pa tien ts w ith ga llston e
pancrea titis (27 .3% ), com pared w ith
the pro portion o f th e to ta l se ries
(8 .3%).
CT and C lin ica l C ourse
The su rvey of the s ta tistica l d a ta
p resen ted show s tha t a c lear com re la -
tio n can be es tab lished b etw een the
severity o f pan crea titis , a s de te rm ined
a t the in itia l CT ex am in ation , and the
c lin ica l course . W e no ted a s teady
trend tow ard an in creased averag e
n um ber o f fasting d ay s and days h os-
p ita lized in pa tien ts w ith m ore sev ere
g rades of pancrea titis (T ab le 3 ). F ive
o f s ix dea ths and 88 .8% of a ll ab scesses
o ccurred in pa tien ts in itia lly c lassi-
fied as hav ing grades D and E pan-
c rea titis . N o p atien ts o rig ina lly c lassi-
fied as hav ing grad e A or B p an -
c rea titis had sub sequ en t abscesses . A ll
p atien ts w ith a norm al p ancreas on
C T scan (g rade A ) had a m ild c lin ical
cou rse w ithou t com p lica tions and
w ere d isch arged in less than 2 w eeks .
A lthough the c lin ica l cou rse w as
co nsis ten t w ith the grade of p an crea-
titis, som e grad e A patien ts m ay no t
h av e had pancrea titis a t a ll. T h ere-
fo re , the exac t percen tage of pa tien ts
w ith acu te pancrea titis and a norm al
CT scan is d if ficu lt to assess. T h is per-
cen tage depend s m ain ly on th e sever-
ity o f acu te pancrea titis and the tim e
of the exam ina tion an d shou ld be ex -
pec ted to vary from series to se ries.
CT and Deve lopm en t o f
Abscesses
A strong re la tio nsh ip ex ists b e-
tw een the in itial p resence of pem ipan-
crea tic f lu id co llec tion s (g rades D and
E ) and th e d ev e lo pm ent o f ab scesses.
A bscesses o ccu rred in 1 8 pa tien ts in
th is se ries (2 1 .7% ), bu t they deve loped
in on ly tw o pa tien ts w ith ou t in itia l
flu id c olle ctio ns.
Th e presence of poorly encapsu la t-
ed p em ipancn ea tic flu id co llec tio ns in
patien ts w ith a cu te p anc rea titis
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77 2 . Rad io logy Sep tem ber 1985
sho u ld no t be regarded casua lly . F lu -
id co llec tions reso lved spon tan eo usly
in 54 .3% of pa tien ts w ho had th em but
lingered on an d even tua lly becam e
in fec ted in th e rem ain ing 4 5 .7% . F o l-
low -up CT exam ina tio ns shou ld be
p erfo rm ed in th ese pa tien ts to assess
the presen ce , size , and loca tion of
these co llec tions u n til they reso lve .
P rev ious ly , ex travasated pancrea tic
sec re tio ns and the deve lo pm ent o f
la rge pem ipancrea tic flu id co llec tions
w ere cons id ered an escap e m echa-n ism , lead ing to a b en ef ic ia l decom -
p ress io n of the pancrea tic duc t sy stem
(12). In ou r study , h ow ev er, based o n
sho rt-te rm CT and c lin ica l fo llow -up
ev a lu ation , w e fa iled to de tec t any ad -
van tages of la rge flu id co llec tio ns fo r
th is g rou p of pa tien ts . W hile w e d id
n o t condu ct long -term eva lua tions ,
w e fo und tha t ex travasa ted flu id w as
asso c ia ted w ith a pro trac ted an d se-
vene c lin ica l course . In p atien ts w ith -
o u t such flu id , the cou rse of pancrea -
titis w as m ild or s ig n ifican tly sh orten
an d less com plica ted .
T he d iagno sis o f abscess in m ost o f
our cases w as based on the presence
of a persis ten t f lu id co llec tio n p lu s
seps is u nresp onsiv e to an tib io tic th em -
apy . B ecause of debris and n ecro tic
tis sue , the density o f flu id co llec tions
w as variab le (5 -3 0 H U ) and no t he lp -
fu l in th is d iagnos is. T he ro les o f per-
cu tan eo us asp ira tio n and drainag e of
pancrea tic abscesses have been m e-
ported in th e lite ra tu re (21 , 22 ), b u t
th ese procedu res w ere no t u sed in
th is se ries.
R e tm opem iton eal a ir w as seen in four
patien ts, a ll o f w hom had prov ed ab-
scesses a t su rgery . A s reported in the
lite ra tu re (2 3 , 24 ), flu id co llec tion s
co n ta in in g a ir m ay deve lop seco n-
dam y to en tem ic f is tu las and m ay no t
alw ays in d ica te an ab scess . H ow ever,
th is CT find ing , particu la rly w hen
seen dur in g the in itia l a ttack , stro ng-
ly sugges ts a gas-fo rm ing in fection
an d is ex trem ely va luab le in qu ick ly
iden tify ing th is p o ten tia lly life -
th rea ten ing com p lica tio n . In th ree
pa tien ts , m etropem itonea l a im visu al-
ized on CT scan in th e f ir st 2 4 hou rs
led to a correc t d iagn osis th a t w as no t
suspec ted c lin ica lly . S urgery w as per-fo rm ed w ithou t de lay , and a ll th ree
p atien ts su rv ived .
Prognostic S ign s , CT , and
C lin ica l C ourse
The rela tionsh ip be tw een p rogno s-
tic s igns and severity o f pancrea titis is
docum en ted in T ab le 2 . In fec ted ab-
scesses occurred w ith an increased in -
c idence in pa tien ts w ith sev eral p ro g-
nos tic sign s. A bscesses w ere seen in
80 .0% of pa tien ts w ith s ix to e igh t
sign s, com pared w ith 12 .5% of pa-
tien ts w ith zero to tw o sign s. W e
found tha t using pro gnos tic s igns and
CT fin d ings led to a b e tte r estim ation
of the risk of death in th is se ries. In
g rades A and B p atien ts , n one o f th e
pa tien ts d ied , regard less o f the num -
ben of p rog nos tic s igns , w hich varied
be tw een zero an d five . O n the o th er
hand , the m orta lity o f pa tien ts in itial-
ly c lassified as g rades C , D , on E com e-
la ted w ith the inc reas in g num ber of
p rogn ostic sign s (T ab le 5 ).
W e con clud e tha t in itia l CT ex am i-
n ation in cases o f acu te pancrea titis is
ve ry he lp fu l in estab lish in g on con-
firm ing the c lin ica l d iagnos is, a s w ell
as in dep ic ting assoc ia ted ab nonm ali-tie s. C T can also be used as an ear ly
ind ica to r o f the d isease ’s severity an d
its expec ted m orb id ity and m o rtality .
W e found a good co rre la tion be tw een
the g rades of m ild , m odera te , o r se -
v en e pan crea titis as es tab lished by C T
appearance and the c lin ica l course ,
d ev elo pm ent o f abscesses, and dea th .
T he u se of ob jec tive pro gnos tic s igns
w ith in itia l CT find in gs im prov es the
o rig ina l p rog nos tic es tim ation and
iden tifie s p atien ts in w hom life -
th rea ten ing com plica tio ns m ay deve l-
o p . CT ex am in ations sh ou ld be pen-
fo rm ed in a ll pa tien ts w ith m odera te
o r sev ere c lin ica l fo rm s of pancrea titis
to ev alua te the presence and severity
o f the in itia l a ttack and to assess its
c lin ica l evo lu tion . U
S end co rre spo nd ence and rep rin t req ues ts to :
Em il B altha zar, M .D ., NYU M edic al C enter, B el-
le vue H osp ita l , D epa rtm ent o f R ad io logy , 2 7 th
S tre et and 1 st A venu e, N ew Y ork , N ew Yo rk
10016 .
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