Hemodynamic changes during acute pancreatitis and the dopamine therapy.

A dog model was used to measure the hemodynamic changes in acute pancreatitis (AP) caused by intraductal injection of fresh trypsin-bile mixture and to investigate the efficacy of dopamine in the treatment of AP. Dopamine was administered intravenously for 3 hours at a dose of 0.6 mg/kg/hour starting 10 min after the induction of AP. Hemorrhagic pancreatitis was characterized by a fall in cardiac output (CO), systemic arterial pressure (SAP), an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), systemic vascular resistance (SVR) and the development of early reduction of pancreatic blood flow (PBF). Administration of dopamine produced a significant increase in PBF and leads to a normalization in CO, SAP, PVR and SVR. In addition, dopamine significantly reduced the severity of the AP, as assessed by histological staging and mortality rate. These results suggest that dopamine can limit the progression from edematous to hemorrhagic pancreatitis and prevent irreversible pancreatic damage through preserving PBF at the early phase of AP.