The roles of C-reactive protein and pleural effusion in prognosis evaluation in the early stage of acute pancreatitis

Abstract

Objective To investigate the values of C-reactive protein (CRP) and pleural effusion in predicting the severity in the early stage of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) . Methods A total of 89patients with acute pancreatitis were collected from October 2008 through October 2010 for retrospective analysis. Patients were divided into two groups, namely mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) group and SAP group as per the Guidelines for Clinical Diagnosis and Classification of Acute Pancreatitis set by the Society of Chinese Medical Association in 2003. The levels of CRP were measured on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th days after admission. Pleural effusion was also observed on the 1 st day after admission. The data of two groups were analyzed and compared. Results There were significant differences in CRP at all intervals between SAP group and MAP group (P ＜0.05) . The relative risk of increase in CRP ( ＞ 150 mg/L),pleural effusion and increase in CRP along with pleural effusion were analyzed, and each of these three markers can be used as an independent severity factor of SAP. Particularly, increase in CRP along with pleural effusion could be most sensitive in predicting the severity of SAP with relative risk (RR) to be 4. 8 and specificity of predictive value to be 100％. Conclusions C-reactive protein and pleural effusion are available, simple and economic biomarkers which can help us predict the risk of acute pancreatitis in the early stage. Key words: C-reactive protein; Pleural effusions; Acute pancreatits; Mild acute panereatitis1; Severe acute pancreatitis