Steroid-induced pancreatitis: Does it really exist?

Abstract

The observation that corticosteroids induce or are associated with acute pancreatitis in humans has been emphasized over the past 25 yr (l-20). Two recent reviews of drug-induced pancreatitis (21,22), as well as current textbooks (23,24), cite the evidence that implicates steroids as a cause of pancreatitis. Overlooked, however, in these reviews are many case reports (25-35) and experimental data (33,3639) that suggest exactly the opposite, i.e., corticosteroids may be of benefit in the treatment of severe acute pancreatitis. In this review, we present a critical evaluation of the literature that implicates corticosteroids as a cause of pancreatitis. Our analysis casts doubt on the etiologic association between steroids and pancreatitis and, in fact, suggests that corticosteroids may indeed be useful in the treatment of acute pancreatitis.