Steroid-Induced Pancreatitis

Abstract

THE COMPLICATIONS of therapy with adrenocortical hormones have been reviewed extensively, but the pancreatic abnormalities which occur in association with administration of steroids rarely have been included.¹ A postmortem study by Carone and Liebow²revealed histologic evidence of acute pancreatitis, or peripancreatic fat necrosis, in 16 of 54 patients treated with corticotropin or adrenal steroids. In a control group of 54 patients of comparable age and with similar major diseases, only two had these pathologic changes. The clinical diagnosis of pancreatitis was not made in any of these patients. In 1961 Nelp³reviewed the literature and reported six of his own cases of clinically manifest acute pancreatitis associated with the administration of adrenal steroids. To our knowledge, no additional cases have been reported. In 12 of 14 previously reported instances of symptomatic pancreatitis induced by steroids, the diagnosis was not made until exploratory surgery or autopsy.^3-8