Nutritional support in patients with severe acute pancreatitis

Abstract

Nutritional support in patients with severe acute pancreatitis Severe acute pancreatitis is associated with a systemic inflammatory response leading to a hypermetabolic, hypercatabolic condition; for those reasons, patients suffering from this disease require an excellent artificial nutritional support in order to maintain the structural integrity and the function of vital organs with minimal pancreatic secretion.

Total parenteral nutrition has been the standard practice in the treatment of patients with severe acute pancreatitis because of the favorable outcomes of early nutritional support while avoiding pancreatic stimulation; however, recent evidence suggests there are potentially greater benefits with enteral as compared with parenteral nutrition, including fewer septic and metabolic complications and lesser costs. That is why present guidelines for the management of acute pancreatitis recommend that enteral instead of parenteral nutrition be used in patients with severe acute pancreatitis.