Patients who have been diagnosed as having
acute pancreatitis should be, on principle, hospitalized. Crucial fundamental management is required soon after a diagnosis of
acute pancreatitis has been made and includes monitoring of the conscious state, the respiratory and cardiovascular system, the urinary output, adequate fluid replacement and
pain control. Along with such management, etiologic diagnosis and severity assessment should be conducted. Patients with a diagnosis of severe
acute pancreatitis should be transferred to a medical facility where intensive respiratory and cardiovascular management as well as interventional treatment, blood purification
therapy and
nutritional support are available. The disease condition in
acute pancreatitis changes every moment and even symptoms that are mild at the time of diagnosis may become severe later. Therefore, severity assessment should be conducted repeatedly at least within 48 h following diagnosis. An adequate dose of fluid replacement is essential to stabilize cardiovascular dynamics and the dose should be adjusted while assessing circulatory dynamics constantly. A large dose of fluid replacement is usually required in patients with severe
acute pancreatitis. Prophylactic
antibiotic administration is recommended to prevent infectious complications in patients with severe
acute pancreatitis. Although the efficacy of
intravenous administration of
protease inhibitors is still a matter of controversy, there is a consensus in Japan that a large dose of a synthetic
protease inhibitor should be given to patients with severe
acute pancreatitis in order to prevent organ failure and other complications.
Enteral feeding is superior to
parenteral nutrition when it comes to the
nutritional support of patients with severe
acute pancreatitis. The JPN Guidelines recommend, as optional continuous
regional arterial infusion and blood purification
therapy.