Emphysematous Pancreatitis in the Elderly

Abstract

Emphysematous pancreatitis (EP) is an unusual medical emergency that presents with intraparenchymal pancreatic air in the setting of necrotizing infection. We aimed to determine the differences in the epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentation, symptoms and outcome of EP between elderly and nonelderly patients. A PubMed search was performed using the keywords "emphysematous pancreatitis," "gas-forming pancreatitis" and "pancreatitis and pneumoperitoneum" from March 1959 to February 2019. Forty-two EP articles with 58 patients were enrolled in our study. We divided the patients into ≥65 (elderly, n=25) and <65-year age groups (non-elderly, n=33). Data on patient age, sex, comorbidities, symptoms, clinical findings, etiologies, laboratory results, treatments, outcomes and mortality were collected and analyzed using the Student's t test and chi-square test using IBM SPSS 20. P values < 0.05 (2-tailed) indicated statistical significance. Alcohol- and biliary pancreatitis-related EP were 4.95- and 4-fold, respectively, more frequent in the elderly than in the nonelderly (36% versus [vs.] 9.1%, P < 0.05). Fever was more frequent in the nonelderly than in the elderly (69.7% vs. 36%, P < 0.05). The elderly presented with more severe shock status (68% vs. 33.3%, P < 0.05) and received more surgical interventions than the nonelderly (60% vs. 30.3%, P < 0.05). Biliary pancreatitis is the most common type of EP in the elderly and has an atypical presentation with less fever, more severe shock, and more surgical interventions. In treating elderly patients with pancreatitis, immediate administration of adequate antibiotics, assisted drainage and early surgical intervention are needed to prevent shock.