Administration of Lactated Ringer's solution in first 24 hours of hospitalization may improve outcomes in Acute Pancreatitis

According to a recent pilot trial, researchers have shown that in acute pancreatitis patients, lactated ringers (LR) decreases the risk of moderately severe/severe AP compared to normal saline. The main limitation of these studies is related to small sample sizes limiting statistical power.

In this study, the team investigated whether LR usage improves outcomes in AP in those patients enrolled at 22 international sites (2015 - 2018).

The key findings of the study are:

• The mean age of 999 patients was 51 years, including 52 % females and 24 % moderately severe/severe AP.
• Compared to normal saline, Using LR during the first 24 hours reduced the odds of moderately severe/severe AP (adjusting for the region of enrollment, aetiology, BMI, and fluid volume).
• The team observed similar results in sensitivity analyses eliminating the effects of admission organ failure, aetiology, and excessive total fluid volume.

They said, “Our study found that LR solution administration in the first 24 hours of hospitalization is tied to less severe AP.

This study, “Lactated Ringers Use in the First 24 Hours of Hospitalization Is Associated with Improved Outcomes in 999 Patients with Acute Pancreatitis”, led by Dr Lee, Peter J et al. and colleagues, is published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Further investigations are warranted to confirm these findings in a large-scale randomized clinical trial.

Further reading:

https://journals.lww.com/ajg/Abstract/9900/Lactated_Ringers_Use_in_the_First_24_Hours_of.810.aspx