Objective: To study the impact factors and clinical significance of the acute lung injury (ALI) complicating acute pancreatitis.
Methods: Two hundred and fifty patients with acute pancreatitis were retrospectively analyzed to study the impact of the clinical types, different stages of the disease, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and its duration on the incidence of ALI. Also, the relationship between ALI and severity of the disease, as shown by acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score, the incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ dysfunction syndromes (MODS), and prognosis was analyzed in patients with acute pancreatitis.
Results: Our data showed that the clinical types and different stages of acute pancreatitis were significantly related to the incidence of ALI (P<0.01). The incidence of ALI was significantly higher in patients with SIRS compared with those no SIRS (P<0.01), and the longer the duration of SIRS, the higher was the incidence of ALI. In patients with ALI, APACHE II score and incidence of ARDS and MODS (P<0.01) were significantly higher, and the prognosis was poor (P<0.05).
Conclusion: SIRS is an important factor that has strong influence on incidence of ALI, and the ALI is an important determinant of prognosis and severity of patients with acute pancreatitis.