@article{ref1,
title="Pancreatic injuries in earthquake victims: What have we learnt?",
journal="Pancreatology",
year="2013",
author="Xie, Kun-Lin and Liu, Juhua and Pan, Gang and Hu, Wei-Ming and Wan, Mei-Hua and Tang, Wen-Fu and Liu, Xu-Bao and Wu, Hong",
volume="13",
number="6",
pages="605-609",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristic and management of patients with pancreatic injuries from the Wen-Chuan and Lu-Shan earthquakes. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 39,784 patients from the Wen-Chuan earthquake and 1489 from the Lu-Shan earthquake. The demographics, clinical data, treatment strategies, and outcomes of patients with pancreatic injuries were recorded and compared between survivors of the two earthquakes. RESULTS: Pancreatic injury occurred only in a small proportion (0.2%) in patients with trauma on admission, and most (61%) patients had Grades I-II pancreatic injuries. Blunt trauma was the leading cause of pancreatic trauma. Most patients (95%) suffered multiple injuries, of which chest injuries (61%) were the most common. Elevated serum amylase levels were observed in 50 (86%) of 58 patients, and computed tomography (CT) identified pancreatic injuries in 32 (80%) of 40 patients. A significantly higher rate (p = 0.043) of pancreatic complication was present in patients with Grade III and IV injuries (38%) than in those with Grade I and II injuries (18%). Forty patients were initially treated by conservative management with 6 (15%) requiring delayed operations. Four (67%) pancreatic complications and 2 (33%) deaths occurred in patients with delayed operations. CONCLUSIONS: Repeated serum amylase analysis, CT, and laparoscopic exploration were reliable diagnostic modalities to diagnose pancreatic injury. Conservative management was safe in patients with Grade I and II injuries. Delayed operation, especially for Grade III patients, resulted in increased morbidity and mortality.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1424-3903",
doi="10.1016/j.pan.2013.10.002",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pan.2013.10.002"
}