Objective: To assess the value of clinical criteria in detecting pancreatic infection (PI) on or after the seventh day of acute pancreatitis attack (AP).
Methods: We determined as clinical criteria of suspicion of PI (SPI): the presence, persistence or recurrence of fever > or = 38 degrees C, leukocytosis > or = 12,000/mm3 and organ failure (OF) in the absence of extrapancreatic infection. Patients with SPI criteria underwent computed tomography - fine needle aspiration (CT-FNA), if CT-FNA was negative and SPI criteria for 72 hours CT-FNA was repeated.
Results: We prospectively studied 369 patients with AP and found 48 patients who met SPI criteria (mean age 37 yr, 17-70 yr), 30 male and 18 female. Etiology was biliary (56.2%), alcohol (35.4%) and others (8.4%). We performed 53 CT-FNA in 48 patients and 28 were diagnosed with PI. At the time of CT-FNA 50% of patients had OF. Mean time for CT-FNA in patients with PI was 12.5 +/- 7 days. Mean clinical followup after hospital discharge was one month. No patients with SPI criteria and negative CT-FNA or patients without SPI criteria developed clinical signs of PI. The SPI criteria had a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 94% (CI 95% 92-97), PPV of 58% (IC 95% 44-72) and NPV of 100%.
Conclusions: The application of SPI criteria on or after the seventh day of onset of AP can be a useful tool in making the decision and defining the time to perform a CT-FNA in order to clarify the clinical scenario between SIRS and sepsis related PI. Our approach can lead to better strategic treatments in the management of these difficult cases.