Prolonged total parenteral nutrition in a pregnant woman with acute pancreatitis.

During the 22nd week of her first pregnancy, a 28-year-old woman developed an attack of acute pancreatitis 10 months after pancreatoduodenectomy for chronic pancreatitis of alcoholic origin. She received total parenteral nutrition without complications for 83 days until the cesarean delivery of a child weighing 2,120 g. During that time, clinical, biological, and echographic signs of pancreatitis progressively disappeared. The favorable outcome for both mother and fetus suggests that prolonged TPN may be a useful measure in the management of severe digestive disease occurring during pregnancy.