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Drug Therapy for Acute Pancreatitis

  • Pancreas (T Stevens, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Gastroenterology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion Statement

Acute pancreatitis (AP) remains a disease with significant morbidity and mortality, and the reported incidence is increasing. Despite a significant amount of research over the last few decades with greater understanding of the pathophysiology of AP, there are still no specific drugs available. Therefore, the current treatment is limited to supportive care such as fluid, nutrition, and treatment of complications. In this review, we discuss potential novel targeted pharmacologic approaches that may offer promise in the treatment of AP such as anti-secretory agents, protease inhibitors, probiotics, anti-inflammatory agents, anti-oxidants, and anti-TNF-α agents. While many drugs were reported to have efficacy in animal experiments, human studies have been largely disappointing. Better understanding of AP pathophysiology likely will facilitate future therapies in AP.

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Abbreviations

CCK:

Cholecystokinin

ACh:

Acetylcholine

NF-κB:

Nuclear factor κB

AP:

Acute pancreatitis

SAP:

Severe acute pancreatitis

ERCP:

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography

IL-6:

Interleukin-6

IL-1beta:

Interleukin-1 beta

IL-8:

Interleukin-8

APC:

Activated protein C APACHE II

TNF-α:

Tumor necrosis factor alpha

NSAIDs:

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug

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Yan Bi declares that she has no conflict of interest

Tegpal Atwal declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Santhi Swoop Vege has received royalties from UpToDate.

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  1. Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    Yan Bi MD, PhD, Tegpal Atwal MD & Santhi Swaroop Vege MD

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  1. Yan Bi MD, PhD
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  2. Tegpal Atwal MD
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  3. Santhi Swaroop Vege MD
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Correspondence to Santhi Swaroop Vege MD.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pancreas

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Bi, Y., Atwal, T. & Vege, S.S. Drug Therapy for Acute Pancreatitis. Curr Treat Options Gastro 13, 354–368 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11938-015-0058-7

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