ASCITES, PLEURAL, AND PERICARDIAL-EFFUSIONS IN ACUTE-PANCREATITIS - APROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF INCIDENCE, NATURAL-HISTORY, AND PROGNOSTIC ROLE

Ascites and pleural and pericardial effusions can be observed during a cute pancreatitis, The aims of this study were to evaluate their incid ence, natural history, and prognostic role in patients with acute panc reatitis, One hundred patients consecutively admitted with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis were prospectively submitted to abdominal, pleu ral, and cardiac ultrasonography at admission and during follow-up, As cites was found in 18 patients, pleural effusion in 20, and pericardia l effusion in 17. Twenty-four patients of this series had severe pancr eatitis; three of them died. All effusions disappeared spontaneously i n patients who survived pancreatitis up to two months after dismissal. At multivariate analysis ascites and pleural effusion were demonstrat ed to be accurate independent predictors of severity, The respective o dds ratios were 5.9 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.5-23.0%) and 8.6 (95% CI, 2.3-32.5%). Furthermore the presence of pleural effusion, asc ites, and pericardial effusion were associated with an increased incid ence of pseudocyst during follow-up. Ascites and pleural and pericardi al effusions are frequent during acute pancreatitis. Pleural effusion and ascites are accurate predictors of severity in these patients.