Assessing the Severity of Acute Pancreatitis with CT Severity Index and Other Conventional Methods in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Tamil Nadu, India – A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND Acute pancreatitis is not uncommon in surgical practice with variable clinical presentation. Because of its potential notable catastrophic complications, it is mandatory to assess the severity at the earliest. In recent times, the decision making in the management is quite difficult due to its complications and outcome. So, an objective assessment of severity based on clinical and laboratory scoring verses computed tomography (CT) severity is still debate, hence the need for study. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of CT severity index verses APACHE II and Ranson criteria in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis. METHODS A total number of 36 consecutive cases of acute pancreatitis who were admitted between January 2013 and December 2014 in Apollo Specialty Hospitals – Madurai were included in the study. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. RESULTS In our study, out of 36 patients, 30 (83.33 %) were males and 6 (16.66 %) were females. The sex distribution shows a clear male predominance. Most of the patients in the present study belonged to the middle age group. Alcohol was the most common cause accounting for 41.7 % of the cases followed by the billiary pathology. CT severity index was the superior tool for prediction of the prognosis and early complications. CONCLUSIONS When using contrast enhanced computed tomography, it was found that there was a significant correlation between the development of organ failure and severity of pancreatitis. The specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of Ranson and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation – II (APACHE II) at 48 hours of admission with acute pancreatitis does not correlate in determining the severity of acute pancreatitis. KEYWORDS Acute Pancreatitis, Severity Markers, CT Severity Index