Acute biliary pancreatitis related with pregnancy: a 5-year single center experience.

BACKGROUND

Pregnancy-associated acute biliary pancreatitis is a rare but challenging clinical entity in terms of diagnosis and management. We report our institutional medical data of pregnancy-associated acute biliary pancreatitis.

METHODS

Medical records of 27 patients admitted to our clinics for pregnancy-associated acute biliary pancreatitis between January 2005 and January 2010 were reviewed.

RESULTS

Of the 27 patients, 25 (93%) were in the post-partum period, and 2 (7%) were pregnant. Seventeen patients (63%) were managed with conservative treatment, and were scheduled for interval cholecystectomy, while 10 patients (37%) had early cholecystectomy prior to discharge. The mortality rate was 3% (n=1).

CONCLUSION

Pregnancy-associated acute biliary pancreatitis usually has a mild-to-moderate clinical course with a favorable outcome, and can be managed successfully with conservative treatment. Early cholecystectomy done prior to discharge in the initial admission should be considered in mild-to-moderate pregnancy-associated acute biliary pancreatitis, except in patients within the first trimester.